KATHMANDU, Feb 23: The scheduled federal parliament session faced disruption and was subsequently adjourned due to obstruction from opposition parties.
Speaker Devraj Ghimire adjourned the Parliament for 15 minutes after a dispute between the ruling and opposition parties.
The controversy escalated after Nepali Congress MP Rajan Kumar KC said that on Thursday the MPs of the main opposition party UML went out after staging “a strange and surprising play” on Thursday.
KC said, “Yesterday, when the bill on political parties was being submitted, a strange and amazing drama was staged. 10/15 MPs went out of the House fearing that the quorum would be reached in the House.”
HoR meeting adjourned following UML's protest
UML Chief Whip Padam Giri objected to KC's statement. He said that KC's accusations were false and took a stand not to allow parliament to function. Opposition MPs stood their ground and protested.
In the meantime, RPP's Chief Whip Gyanendra Shahi also demanded that the Prime Minister give an immediate answer as to why the killers in the Balkumari incident have not yet been prosecuted although the Prime Minister has accepted that it was not an incident but a murder.
He said either the Prime Minister or the Home Minister should be present in parliament and answer immediately.
Even after this there was regular uproar in parliament and MP Madhav Sapkota warned the opposition MPs to resign and go to the streets.
He gave this warning after the CPN-UML and RPP took the stand that they would not allow parliament to run under any circumstances. “Let your MPs resign and go to the streets”, Sapkota said, “What is this way of sitting in this parliament being chaotic and arrogant.”
He read out Article 21 'E' of the Parliament Regulations to the opposition, “I may request the opposition to hear this. Taking time from the speaker, we should speak our hearts out” Sapkota repeatedly claimed that the behavior of the opposition in parliament was not in accordance with the rules. “You are in great numbers today. Can you suppress our voices just because you are greater in numbers?” he asked.
In the meantime, Speaker Devraj Ghimire was ruling time and again. But even though the dispute was not settled, he announced the adjournment of parliament for 15 minutes.
