KATHMANDU, Jan 31: The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has disrupted the very first meeting of the winter session of the House of Representatives (HoR) by boycotting the meeting.
The RSP MPs had initially requested an emergency time to speak on the issue of RSP Chairman Rabi Lamichhane's suspension from the post of MP. Speaker Devraj Ghimire had said that emergency time would not be available in the first meeting, stating that time was given on a party basis. As a result, the meeting was disrupted for about half an hour.
After the obstruction of the RSP continued, Speaker Ghimire read out the President's letter and proceeded with the meeting. Similarly, he read out the letter received from the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.
Following that, the RSS MPs boycotted the meeting and walked out for 15 minutes.
The RSP MPs had started their protest by standing up to demand that their issues be addressed, which disrupted the meetings. Despite repeated requests from Speaker Ghimire to remain seated, the RSP lawmakers did not relent in their stance.
Speaker Ghimire emphasized that time had been allocated for each party to present their views during the session and requested that the MPs follow the schedule. In reply, RSP lawmakers started to argue with the speaker out of turn.
After the RSP MPs did not take a stand despite repeated requests, Speaker Ghimire said, “Since repeated requests have not been complied with, I am ordering all MPs to sit down.”