NC leaders accused Mahara of curtailing their right to question the ministers out of the arrogance of the two-thirds majority.

KATHMANDU, Aug 3: The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has walked out from the parliament meeting on Thursday in protest after the speaker disallowed the party's lawmakers from making follow-up questions on a reply by Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa. Earlier, NC during the zero and special hours had sought reply from Thapa in connection with security concerns including the recent rape of a minor in Kanchanpur and alleged death threat against a lawmaker.

Right after Thapa had furnished his reply, NC leader Minendra Rijal asked the speaker, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, to provide him time to make follow-up questions.

But Mahara said that the answer of the minister was related to Rule 15 of the parliamentary regulations and therefore follow-up questions cannot be made.

“I will allow you to ask questions next time. Today's statement of the minister is not related to the rule 219, as you have claimed,” said Mahara.

After this, NC lawmakers rose from their seats to obstruct the meeting. Rijal claimed that it was his right to ask follow-up questions to the minister as per Rule 219. Mahara read out the rule in the House, which said follow-up questions can be made only after ministerial briefings on issues of public concerns. Mahara said Thapa's Thursday's statement was not related to Rule 219. But NC lawmakers refused to take their seats. Then Mahara asked Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Gyawali to brief the parliament about his recent foreign visits. Then the speaker continued with the parliamentary proceedings to appoint lawmakers to various parliamentary committees.

NC lawmakers walked out of the meeting after Mahara ignored the NC lawmakers' protest and invited Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada to the rostrum to table the Insurance Bill. NC leaders accused Mahara of curtailing their right to question the ministers out of the arrogance of the two-thirds majority.

“There is a provision which allows making follow-up questions to a minister if his/her answer is not satisfactory, but the speaker deprived us of the right,” said NC Chief Whip Balkrishna Khand.

NC has accused the government of heading toward a totalitarian rule and trying to suppress the voice of the opposition in parliament. The party has called its parliamentary party meeting for Friday ahead of the next House meeting.

“We have also been demanding that speaker and deputy speaker of the federal and provincial parliaments must be from two different political parties, but the speaker during the previous parliamentary meeting told us not to raise such question,” said Rijal after the meeting.

The opposition has also accused Mahara of running the House meeting even in the absence of the main opposition.

But Mahara dismissed the accusation and said, “I was a member of parliament in 1990 as well. NC's speaker had run the House, even as all the opposition parties except for one member of an opposition party boycotted the meeting,” Mahara said. “Only the main opposition walked out today, other opposition parties were present.”

 
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