UML to intensify stir against registration of amendment bill
Kathmandu, December 19
A meeting of the nine opposition parties, including the main opposition CPN-UML, today decided to intensify their ongoing protest against the registration of the constitution amendment bill in the Parliament.
Deputy Parliamentary Party leader of the UML Subas Chandra Nembang told THT that the parties decided to hold a mass meeting in Kathmandu on January 1 to protest the registration of the constitution amendment bill and express solidarity with the people of Province 5.
The meeting that took place before the scheduled meeting of the Parliament today also decided to continue obstruction of House proceedings.
Nembang said the government registered the bill ignoring the Supreme Court’s show cause notice and provisions of the constitution which stipulate that provincial boundaries could be revised only after the consent of the provincial assembly of the concerned province.
When asked to react on the ruling parties’ opinion that the UML should allow House proceedings and vote against the constitution amendment bill, Nembang said 201 lawmakers of the nine opposition parties were against the bill, therefore it would not be passed in the House. “But our view is that this bill is against the interest of the country and such a bill should not be tabled in the Parliament or put to vote in the House,” he added.
He said his party was miffed at the ruling parties because they brought the bill without discussing its contents with his party.
Nembang said the opposition parties would continue to obstruct House proceedings.
The Nepal Parivar Dal, Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party, CPN-ML, Rastriya Janamorcha, Madhes Samata Party, Dalit Jajanati Party and Janamukti Party are supporting the UML in the protest against the constitution amendment bill.
Meanwhile, CPN-MC leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha told THT that his party expected the UML not to complicate the situation further and desist from proceeding with its plan to hold mass meeting. He added that the ruling parties would continue to hold dialogue with the UML.
