KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 6
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today held a meeting with CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal and sought their help to secure parliamentary ratification of the deal. This is the first time after he ceased to be the prime minister that Oli went to Baluwatar to meet Deuba.
UML leader Shankar Pokharel, who accompanied Oli, told mediapersons that the leaked MCC letter showed that ruling alliance leaders were saying one thing to the people of the country and another thing to the international community. His remarks were aimed at CPN-MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who along with Deuba, wrote to the MCC on September 29 that the deal would be ratified within five months, but was telling the public that the deal could not be passed without amending some provisions.
Pokharel said it was bizarre that the ruling coalition partners were divided on the MCC deal.
"We will make our stance clear, but first the ruling alliance should make its views clear," he added. He said his party would clearly state its stance on the MCC deal if its demands were addressed in the House of Representatives.
Pokharel said that 14 UML lawmakers, who were expelled by the party, should not be allowed to work as lawmakers in the HoR. "If that demand is not addressed then Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota should quit. Dahal said in the meeting that the UML should either stop obstructing the functioning of the Parliament and take a call on the MCC deal or parties, including the UML, should agree to delay the ratification of MCC till after general elections.
Minister of Communications Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, who was present in the meeting, told mediapersons that the leaders discussed the MCC deal, local elections, and House obstruction. When asked if the government would secure parliamentary ratification of the MCC deal by February 28, Karki did not give a clear answer, but said that apprehensions regarding the MCC deal would be dispelled and the deal would be implemented soon. He said talks would continue on the MCC deal.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 7, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
