KATHMANDU, May 10: Speaker of the Parliament Krishna Bahadur Mahara has directed the Parliament Secretariat to remove the unparliamentary remarks exchanged between Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Congress lawmakers during a heated debate at the parliament session on Tuesday.
At a parliament session on Friday, Mahara instructed the officials of the Parliament Secretariat to remove those unparliamentary and demeaning words recorded in the video archive when Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was responding to queries by the opposition party lawmakers over the government's policies and programs.
The prime minister and opposition lawmakers were involved in heated exchanges as Oli dismissed some opposition lawmakers’ queries as ‘illogical’. The prime minister also said there was no point answering illogical questions that, according to him, were only aimed at venting suppressed anger and frustration.
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Shortly after Prime Minister Oli made the remarks from the rostrum, NC lawmakers stood up at their respective seats to object to his choice of words. NC lawmaker Meen Bahadur Bishwakarma expressed objections on behalf of the opposition party, accusing the prime minister of belittling the opposition lawmakers just for raising questions over the government’s doings.
The prime minister then answered again, clearly showing displeasure. “I am here at the rostrum to answer questions but there should be a certain limit and proper decency should be maintained while asking questions,” he said, visibly angry.
According to lawmakers from the ruling party, Prime Minister Oli got angry after NC lawmaker Biswakarma asked if he was poising himself for huge corruption in bringing in projects worth over Rs 25 billion under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Even as Oli failed to satisfy the NC lawmakers, Speaker Mahara instructed him to go ahead with his response amid the protest. NC lawmakers then vented their ire against Mahara and accused him of taking the government’s side in not instructing the erasure of Oli’s objectionable remarks from House records.
Main opposition party leader Minendra Rijal and Laxman Lal Karna of Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) accused Mahara of failing to maintain parliamentary decorum. “The speaker has failed to maintain House decorum. This is not acceptable,” said Rijal.
In a rare instance inside parliament, Mahara continued with House business amid the obstructions from the main opposition party. Interestingly, NC lawmakers also took part in the proceedings amidst their own obstruction.
Although NC continued its protest in the House over Oli’s remarks, both houses of parliament had endorsed the policy and program presented earlier by President Bidya Bhandari by majority votes.
