Kathmandu, May 4

The main opposition Nepali Congress today registered an amendment to the government’s policies and programmes demanding that the words ‘my government’ used by the president while presenting the policies and programmes be replaced with ‘Nepal government.’

President Bhandari used the words ‘my government’ 21 times during her speech in the joint sitting of the Parliament drawing flak from opposition parties and civil society members who said the term was used by kings to denote them as source of sovereignty.

The NC said use of the term ‘my government’ was against the constitutional provision and the House should amend it.

The NC also said the government’s policies and programmes attempted to curtail the rights of local and provincial governments and weaken federalism, adding that the policies and programmes were aimed at weakening the basic structure of democratic system.

“The government failed to include policies that could promote good governance, development and progress,” read the amendment proposal.

The NC stated that all the points of the policies and programmes should be amended before they are passed from both houses of Parliament. A group of NC lawmakers led by Minendra Rijal registered the amendment proposal.

In a meeting of the NC parliamentary party, NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba urged the party’s lawmakers to point out flaws in the government’s documents in both the houses.

The government’s policies and programmes will be debated for three days from May 5 to 7 according to the Parliamentary Secretariat.