Speaker Subas Nembang declared end of the session after Maoist leader Dev Prasad Gurung, in the parliament, announced boycott of the House meeting against "dillydallying" by ruling Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML in implementing the three-party agreement mainly the prime minister´s resignation. [break]
He seriously objected to the decision of wrapping of the session despite the main opposition´s disapproval.
Speaker Nembang said it would be better had the prime minister recommended for prorogation of the session only after taking the main opposition in confidence.
"I suggested to the prime minister to seek the consent of the opposition leaders and I was assured that the government would seek Maoist consent," Nembang said, adding, "What I can all do is to read out the president´s letter about the prorogation of House that is sent to the parliament secretariat on the prime minister´s recommendation."
Besides the prime minister, Nembang had suggested also to ministers and other leaders to garner consent from the opposition.
According to him, the government is planning to summon the budget session starting June 8.
- An attempt to prolong govt stay in power
- Govt plans to summon budget session starting June 8
- It was urgent to conclude the session: UML chief whip
Maoist lawmaker Khim Lal Devkota termed the decision to prorogue the parliament session amidst the opposition´s boycott as against the parliamentary practice.
Lawyer-turned parliamentarian Devkota said all the businesses scheduled for the meeting should have been removed after the main opposition´s decision to boycott the meeting.
He described the ruling parties´ move as an attempt to prolong the government´s stay in power. "As per the three-point tripartite pact, the prime minister should have stepped down yesterday [Wednesday] and the process to form the national consensus government should have been started from today´s [Thursday´s] meeting," he said.
However, UML chief whip, Bhim Acharya, doesn´t agree with Maoist interpretation.
According to him, the ruling parties took ahead the process to prorogue the session as Maoist leaders earlier didn´t clearly say that they were against proroguing the session. "By the time Maoists decided to boycott the meeting, the Parliament Secretariat had already received the letter from President Dr Ram Baran Yadav," he said.
Acharya said it became urgent to conclude the session mainly due to time constraints.
"The budget should be unveiled by July 9 and pre-budget discussions should be held in advance. Generally there should be a gap of at least three weeks between the pre-budget discussions and introduction of government´s policy and program," he said.
The incumbent government and the previous Maoist-headed government didn´t hold pre-budget discussions due to time constraint resulting from dispute among the political parties. The previous governments had suspended some parliamentary rules for preventing pre-budget discussions.
"This time the government doesn´t want to give continuity to the same trend. Therefore it is essential to summon the budget session by June 8," Nembang said.
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