KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 24

The meeting of the House of Representatives scheduled for 1:00pm today was postponed till 1:00pm tomorrow after Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba requested Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota for the same. Deuba sought postponement of the House meeting to take main opposition CPN-UML on board the process of securing parliamentary ratification of the Millennium Challenge Corporation compact that Nepal has signed with the United States.

Deuba, who was accompanied by other party leaders, held talks with CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli and other top leaders of the UML twice today. On both the occasions, Deuba and Oli also held oneon-one meetings.

After the PM's evening meeting with UML leaders, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki told mediapersons that the PM sought the UML's help to get the MCC compact passed, but the UML stuck to its demands.

It has been seeking the resignation of Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota or expulsion of 14 lawmakers, including Madhav Kumar Nepal.

In response to a query, Karki said the speaker should not order head count or counting of signatures to decide the ratification of the MCC compact and should rely on voice voting.

Karki said if the government's proposals were decided on the basis of head count or counting of signatures, then no government could get its proposal passed. He said that all proposals of the government post 1990 had been passed through voice vote.

Earlier, after the PM's first meeting with Oli in the afternoon, NC General Secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa told mediapersons that the current coalition had been in crisis as there was polarisation within and outside the Parliament due to differences between coalition partners on the $500-million MCC compact.

Deuba told Oli that the compact, which was registered at the Parliament by the Oli government, had become a matter of Nepal's credibility in international relations and he wanted the UML to take part in the MCC ratification process, Thapa added. Deuba said he was ready to discuss all conditions of the UML without being concerned about the fate of the current government or the strength in the House today or in the future.

While the Nepali Congress is the only party in the ruling coalition that has made its position clear in favour of ratifying the MCC deal, two of its partners in the government - CPN-Maoist Centre and CPN-Unified Socialist - have decided to vote against the compact. Another coalition partner, Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal, has not officially made its position clear vis-à-vis the MCC compact.

JSP-N leader Baburam Bhattarai, however, supports ratification of the compact. Mahantha Thakur-led Democratic Socialist Party has also decided to support the MCC compact in the House of Representatives. Dahal attempting to dissuade Oli

Kathmandu: CPN-Maoist Centre Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal held talks with CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli today in an attempt to convince the UML Chair to oppose the Millennium Challenge Corporation compact in the House of Representatives, but Oli cold-shouldered him.

Deputy Parliamentary Party leader of CPN-UML Subas Chandra Nembang told mediapersons after the meeting that Oli told CPN-MC leaders that his party was not like a piggy bank that anybody could use after exhausting all their money. When asked if his party would support the MCC compact, Nembang said, 'We stand in favour of the constitution and the system.'

Nembang told THT that Oli said when he was in power, he registered the MCC compact in the Parliament, but the deal was finalised when the NC and the CPN-MC were in power.

CPN-MC leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha told THT that his party leaders went to seek the UML's help to prevent the MCC ratification and to convince the UML to end Parliament obstruction.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 25, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.