KATHMANDU, AUGUST 25

The ruling coalition has objected to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari's consultations with civil society members and former army chiefs over the citizenship bill.

President Bhandari had consulted former army chiefs yesterday over the bill. On August 18, the day the House of Representatives passed the citizenship bill without any change, President Bhandari, who had returned the bill to the HoR with her message, had consulted lawyers and civil society members about the bill.

Chair of Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal Upendra Yadav told THT that the ruling coalition leaders who attended the coalition meeting today objected to President Bhandari's recent activities and urged Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to remind the president of her role as a ceremonial president which does not allow her to hold such consultations. 'The ruling coalition urged the PM to remind the president of her constitutional brief and the PM will hopefully do so soon,' Yadav added.

Another ruling coalition leader told THT that the PM was more concerned than other leaders about the president's recent consultations.

While CPN-UML leaders have welcomed the president's concerns about the citizenship bill, ruling coalition leaders say her views matched those of the CPN-UML, which had been opposing the bill just to whip up feelings of 'ultra-nationalism' on the eve of elections.

Chair of CPN (Unified Socialist) Madhav Kumar Nepal said at a programme here today that the way the president called former army chiefs for dinner at the president's office had raised questions about her intentions.

Her consultations have created doubts in people's minds that maybe be something untoward could happen, Nepal said. He added that the ruling coalition leaders discussed the president's consultations at a ruling coalition's meeting in Baluwatar today.

President's Information and Communication expert Tika Prasad Dhakal said the ruling coalition leaders' objection to the president's meeting with former army chiefs was unfounded because the president met them regularly. He refuted that she discussed citizenship issues with them. According to Dhakal, the president, who has been shouldering the role of supreme commander-in-chief of the Nepali Army and had worked as defence minister before being elected the president wanted to thank the former army officers for their help and support.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 26, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.