Consensus elusive for ending House deadline

Kathmandu: A meeting between the ruling and opposition parties initiated by House of Representatives (HoR) Speaker Devraj Ghimire has failed to find a consensus for ending the ongoing deadlock in the parliament.

Though the Speaker sat for talks with Whips of the ruling parties and the opposition at his office in Singha Durbar today, the consensus had not been possible as they refused to budge from their stance. Citing that the prolonged House stalemate had sent a negative message to the public, the Speaker called on the whips of ruling and oppositions for the meeting.

According to Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) whip Santosh Pariyar, the major opposition, CPN (UML), was off the stand of further intensifying the House obstructions while the ruling partners were reluctant to budge from their stances. However, the RSP had proposed to discuss the matters of misunderstandings within the House and ending the parliament impasse.

The Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre) were present in the meeting on behalf of the ruling coalition while the CPN (UML), RSP, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party represented the opposition line. The major opposition UML has been obstructing the House business demanding the formation of a high-level committee to probe the gold scam.

The obstruction continues since the confiscation of a large cache of gold that was smuggled into the country via Tribhuvan International Airport from Sinamangal Area on July 18. The party expresses doubt over the impartial investigation into the scam from the investigation by the government itself.

As of the time of compiling this report, the House of Representatives (HoR) session that was slated for 1:00 pm today had not commenced. Concurrently, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' was in a meeting with political parties with national recognition over the matter.

RSS