KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 14

Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota held an all-party meeting in an attempt to end deadlock in the House of Representatives but the main opposition CPN- UML, which has been stalling House proceedings, boycotted the meeting today as well. UML has been stalling parliamentary proceedings to protest Sapkota's refusal to confirm expulsion of 14 UML lawmakers, including Madhav Kumar Nepal, who later split the UML and formed a new party CPN (Unified Socialist).

After the all-party meeting, Sapkota told mediapersons that leaders who were present in the meeting, including Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, told him to continue his efforts to end the House deadlock. He added that he would act as per the participants' suggestions.

Sapkota said important bills, including the citizenship bill, needed to be passed immediately. He said ending the deadlock was important to pass some bills that had already been passed by the National Assembly. Asked if the Millennium Challenge Corporation compact would be tabled in the next meeting of the HoR, Sapkota said he was merely an umpire and that it was political parties who would play an important role.

UML has been saying that as long as the CPN (Unified Socialist) party is invited to any formal meeting, it will not take part in it.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 15, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.