House dissolution a political issue: PM

KATHMANDU, JANUARY 10

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli took special time in the National Assembly to defend his decision to dissolve the House of Representatives, claiming that it was a political issue and the court should quash the petition that challenged his decision.

He claimed that he commanded support of 64 per cent lawmakers in the dissolved House and there was no possibility of forming another government.

He said he dissolved the House as leaders from his party were creating obstacles in running the government smoothly.

The PM said some people were talking about restoration of the HoR, but there was no relevance in the restoration of the House. “For what should the House of Representatives be restored? Should it be restored to invite political instability, to allow horse trading, or to give people chance to change prime minister after every six months?” he wondered.

He quoted Article 85 of the constitution to justify his decision to dissolve the House.

“‘Article 85 stipulates that the HoR will have a five-year term unless dissolved earlier. This means that the House can also be dissolved after almost three years,” he argued.

Terming meetings called by NCP (Dahal-Nepal) illegal, Oli said the rival faction’s decision to remove him as the party cochair was ridiculous.

“They are saying that they have majority in the party, but they can show their majority only when they call the party meeting legally,” the PM said, hinting that Dahal-Nepal faction’s party meetings were not in conformity with party statue.

Without naming former chief justices – Kalyan Shrestha, Anup Raj Sharma, Min Bahadur Rayamajhi, and Sushila Karki — who had issued a press release on Friday condemning the dissolution of the HoR by the government, the PM said the former CJs were putting undue pressure on the judiciary that was hearing the HoR dissolution case. “But the judiciary should not come under anybody’s pressure. The government respects the independence of the judiciary and separation of powers,” he said.

The PM said he was fed up with the NCP Dahal-Nepal faction that had been hatching conspiracy to remove him from posts of party chair and PM.

He said if his rivals were so confident of their popularity, they should not run away from mid-term polls. The PM also blasted those seeking a grand full bench for the hearing of HoR dissolution case. He said the constitution had provisions for hearing constitutional issues by the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court and those seeking a grand full bench for the same were arguing against constitutional provisions.