KATHMANDU, JANUARY 10
The Lower House of the Parliament witnessed a heated debate over CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli's remark yesterday that dissolution of the House of Representative was not a regressive step as dissolution of the Lower House was not uncommon in the United Kingdom.
Even today, Oli told the House that the HoR was dissolved by NC leaders twice in the past -- first in 1994 by late Girija Prasad Koirala and second time in 2002 by Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Reading from a written statement, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba said, "Our efforts and practices should be to realise the spirit of the constitution, which says that the HoR should be allowed to complete its full term, rather than entering a counterproductive debate at a time when a new HoR has just been formed."
Deuba said Oli's statement was against the constitution. He said, "We need to remain steadfast to protect the constitution. This is testing time for the new PM, who had joined hands with the NC to protest Oli's dissolution of the House."
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that during the constitution making process in 2015, parties had agreed to make the House supreme after analysing past incidents of House dissolution and unless the current constitution was revised or amended, all forces were committed to acting in accordance with the spirit of the constitution.
"Oli's remark is not of any concern for the current ruling alliance. The common minimum programme is the basis for our unity. We have divergence within the ruling parties on many issues and we have convergence with opposition parties on many issues," Dahal said.
CPN (US) Chair Madhav Kumar Nepal said the new constitution barred the prime minister from dissolving the HoR.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 11, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
