Kathmandu, July 2 :

Members of Parliament (MPs) today flayed the government, accusing it of surrendering to the Maoists and signing the eight-point pact with the rebels to dissolve the supreme body of the nation without even consulting it.

Speaking in today’s session, UML MP Raghuji Pant accused the government of failing to maintain law and order and said that Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula has been acting like a lackey escorting the Maoist chief Prachanda.

“He has been escorting Prachanda everywhere without paying attention to controlling their extortions and intimidation of people,” Pant said. He also criticised the government for not giving legitimacy to the Interim Constitution Drafting Constitution.

Former Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa labelled the leaders of the seven-party alliance “autocratic” for signing the agreement with the Maoist to dissolve the House without consulting it. He demanded that the seven-party alliance leaders explain to the House why they took such a step against it.

NC MP Shiv Basnet accused the government of treating the House and the Maoists’ people’s government in the same vein. He called for dissolving the House along with dissolution of the the Maoists’ people’s governments.

NC(D) MP Hom Nath Dahal criticised the government for signing the agreement between the government and the Maoists to liquidate the House, which recently declared itself a supreme body of the nation to exercise legislative authorities. MPs Shankar Nath Adhikary, Jagannath Khatiwoda, Shankar Prasad Pandey, NP Saud, Dilli Raj Sharma, Gorakh Bahadur Bogati, Dilaram Acharya, Ram Janam Chaudhary, Til Kumar Meyangmbo, Suresh Malla, Rajendra Mahato accused the government of disrespecting the House.

Minister for Home Affairs Krishna Prasad Sitaula told the House that the draft of the interim constitution would be placed before parliament after Cabinet’s endorsement. He added that the House could be dissolved after formation of a “mechanism”.

Speaker’s ruling

KATHMANDU: Speaker of the House of Representatives Subhas Chandra Nemwang on Sunday ruled that government ministers should be compulsorily present in the House sessions to answer questions raised by the MPs. “The MPs have been raising questions related to several ministries, so the ministers must attend the House to answers their questions,” Nemwang said. During Sunday’s session, several MPs flayed the ministers for not attending the House sessions. — HNS