The main opposition party Nepali Congress has lambasted the government, accusing it of being insolent and obstructing parliamentary proceedings by not allowing the formation of a parliamentary investigation committee. This strong criticism came after a meeting of Nepali Congress party officials and former office bearers held at the residence of party chairman Sher Bahadur Deuba on Saturday.
The meeting concluded that the government's refusal to permit a parliamentary probe into the alleged cooperative fraud case involving Deputy Prime Minister Rabi Lamichhane amounts to an arrogant disregard for parliamentary norms and processes. Party General Secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa informed that the meeting has decided to convene a meeting of the party's parliamentary party on Monday at 1 pm to deliberate on the way forward amidst the current stalemate.
"In the meeting of the party president, office bearers and ex-officers, we discussed the current deadlock in the parliament and various other issues. Yesterday in the parliament, we discussed with the Speaker and other parties to end the deadlock, but the government's attitude has been one of arrogance, ignoring our demands for an investigation committee," Thapa stated.
The Nepali Congress leaders maintained that they would not allow parliamentary proceedings to continue until the government agrees to form the investigation committee to probe the corruption allegations against Lamichhane. The party has accused Speaker Devraj Ghimire of siding with the ruling party instead of being impartial.
"The kind of attitude of the government, while maintaining a kind of helpfulness and flexibility, so that our demand is also addressed...The Honorable Speaker should also be more sensitive to end the obstruction of the Parliament. Even though the opposition party was so supportive, it became a situation to ignore it," Thapa remarked.
The opposition has criticized the government for forcibly including an agenda item in parliament, despite assurances of allowing Deputy Prime Minister Lamichhane to clarify his position on the fraud allegations.
Thapa emphasized, "We have been saying for a long time that the Home Minister should be able to speak, and he should be able to speak. When he said that he would listen to what he had to say, he was forcibly entered into the agenda. In spite of all these things, the government is arrogant to not allow this parliament to function and not even to form an investigation committee."
With the parliamentary party meeting scheduled for Monday, the Nepali Congress is expected to chalk out a stronger strategy to pressurize the government into accepting their demand for an impartial probe into the case involving the Deputy Prime Minister.
The tussle between the ruling coalition and the opposition has brought parliamentary proceedings to a standstill, with both sides accusing each other of undermining democratic norms and processes.
