House meet put off till Friday 2 pm after last ditch effort fails

Published On: July 21, 2016 03:52 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

Legislature-Parliament building in New Baneshwar (Republica file photo)

KATHMANDU, July 21: The meeting of the Legislature-Parliament called for 2 pm today has been postponed till Friday after the last deal effort initiated by the Speaker Onsari Gharti to forge consensus among the political parties struck no chords.

The meeting scheduled for 11 am today had been deferred for 2 pm at the request of Speaker Onsari Ghari who said that the meeting among the top leaders of the major parties was underway in a last ditch effort to forge consensus.

The Parliament Secretariat deferred the House meeting for Friday 2 pm after the leaders did not budge an inch from their respective stances.

The Parliament meeting was postponed after both the meetings yielded no results.

The meeting held by the Speaker made no headway after the ruling UML stuck to its demand saying that the financial bills related to the budget should be discussed first while the Nepali Congress-CPN (Maoist Center) alliance maintained that the no-confidence motion should be discussed prior to the financial bills.

The dispute among the parties started after the Speaker Gharti prioritized the no-confidence motion over the scheduled financial bills related to the budget in the Parliament.

In a Standing Committee meeting held in Baluwatar yesterday, the CPN-UML decided to disrupt the House meeting if the Speaker did not put the budget-related financial for discussion first in the Parliament.

Similarly, the NC and CPN (Maoist Center) have already directed their lawmakers to vote for the no-confidence motion against the Oli government.

The NC-Maoist Center alliance has been demanding resignation of the prime minister saying that his government has fallen into minority after the rulling alliance Maoist Center pulled out of it.

On the contrary, the ruling CPN-UML has been arguing that the government will be reduced to the status of a caretaker government only after the no-confidence motion is passed by the Parliament.

UML has been claiming that Article 298 of the Constitution of Nepal does not envisage a government other than the current one and that this government should remain until Magh 7, 2074 BS.