Big III fail to iron out differences

Kathmandu, May 1

A meeting between the chiefs of the three major parties and Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar held here today failed to break the deadlock on the two key issues of Parliamentary Regulations.

Ruling and opposition parties’ representatives in the Parliamentary Regulations Drafting Committee are divided on how many members should be there in the Parliamentary Hearing Committee and whether the confirmation or rejection of nominees should be endorsed by a simple majority or two thirds majority.

The NC favours a 71-73-member PHC, whereas the CPN-UML favours a 15-member PHC.

According to Speaker’s Press Adviser Babin Sharma, the Speaker termed today’s meeting positive, as the top leaders of the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and the Unified CPN-Maoist decided to settle the issues on the basis of consensus without putting the disputed issues to vote in the PRDC.

According to Sharma, the Speaker found that all the leaders were flexible in their stances.

The working committee of Nepali Congress’ Parliamentary Party today discussed the deadlock in the PRDC.

According to NC lawmaker Prakash Sharan Mahat, next meeting of the NC Parliamentary Party scheduled for tomorrow will make its stance clear on the Parliamentary Regulations.

PRDC has called its meeting tomorrow to discuss the issues.

PRDC Chair Radheshyam Adhikari said he was not in favour of keeping the issue undecided anymore.