KATHMANDU, Sept 24: CPN-UML lawmakers continued with their protest in the meetings of the House of Representatives (HoR) as well as National Assembly (NA) on Friday. The UML lawmakers have been protesting against Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota for not dismissing the 14 lawmakers whom the party had requested the Parliament Secretariat to take action against. The protests from the CPN-UML have been a part of every meeting of parliament since September 8.
In an earlier meeting at the HoR, protests were staged by the UML members in an aggressive way while they were seen chanting slogans in the next one. Various discussions were postponed for a later date due to the continuous obstruction from the UML.
Because of the UML lawmakers’ continuous protest, this year’s budget, too, is going to be passed through the National Assembly in the midst of the protests. The plan is to get the budget endorsed by the upper house within the next three days. The appropriation bill was sent to the National Assembly after being passed by the HoR.
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Also, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota had urged CPN-UML lawmakers members to make the work related to the budget easier by sitting at their respective places.
Speaker Sapkota said that parliament could not move forward until the discussions remain disturbed. He also urged them not to talk about the matters that are sub judice and the topics which are prohibited by the rules of parliament.
Lawmaker Komal Oli and other UML lawmakers staged a protest at the National Assembly meeting by demanding the resignation of Speaker Sapkota.
Following the meeting, Chairman of the National Assembly, Ganesh Prasad Timalsina urged Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to resolve the issue. He also requested the help of UML lawmakers to solve the issue through discussions.
However, despite the requests from the speaker and the upper house chairman to the opposition party to stop the obstructions, the chances for a peaceful way out is very slim.
The UML lawmakers have been protesting in parliament after Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota did not take action against 14 UML lawmakers including Madhav Kumar Nepal whom the party had recommended for dismissal.
