Kathmandu, May 22

Parliamentary Party meeting of the main opposition Nepali Congress today concluded that the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chairperson of the National Assembly were not addressed appropriately during the presentation of the government’s policies and programmes yesterday.

Presenting the document, President Bidhya Bhandari did not address the HoR speaker and NA chairperson as ‘honourable’, rather she only addressed them as ‘Mr speaker’ and ‘Mr chairperson’, according to the NC.

“This is against the tradition and something that reminds us of the now-abolished autocratic royal regime. This is utmost carelessness and we do not accept it,” said NC lawmaker and Chief Whip Bal Krishna Khand.

The meeting, presided over by NC President and Parliamentary Party leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, also concluded that the government’s policies and programmes was like a party manifesto and the government failed to come up with a clear roadmap for the year ahead.

Khand said policies and programmes were to be presented for one year, but the government announced its plans for five, 10 and 15 years.

“This means the government is intentionally keeping the public in the dark about things it plans to do in the next one year,” he said.

The meeting also drew a conclusion that the government, instead of strengthening provincial and local units, only focused on the central government in the policies and programmes.

Khand said the policies and programmes ignored commitments to institutionalise the democratic republic and take the government services to people’s doorsteps.

He said the government also failed to bring concrete plans to fulfil the aspirations of the people.

The NC Parliamentary Party also held consultations with experts on the government’s policies and programmes.

With the debate on the policies and programmes in the Parliament beginning tomorrow, the consultations reviewed the government’s policies and programmes and discussed issues to be raised in the Parliament, according to NC lawmaker Dila Sangroula.

Among the experts present in the meeting were former finance minister Ram Sharan Mahat and former vice-chairman of National Planning Commission Govinda Pokhrel.