KATHMANDU, JANUARY 6
An all-party meeting held here today to fix the agenda of the first meeting of the Parliament after November 20 elections scheduled for January 9 decided to adopt the current parliamentary regulations to govern the House proceedings.
Assistant Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Dasharath Dhamala told mediapersons after the meeting that the all-party meeting decided to endorse the current parliamentary regulations to govern the process of the House business and to prepare a draft later if any amendments were required in the regulations.
On January 9, chairpersons of all the political parties having representation in the Parliament will deliver welcome speech.
Nepali Congress Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak told mediapersons after the all-party meeting that all the parties agreed to hold elections for the speaker and the deputy speaker on January 21 and 23, respectively.
The constitution requires that the two posts should be filled within 15 days of the first meeting of the House of Representatives after new elections.
In the absence of the speaker or the deputy speaker, the first session of the new HoR will be chaired by the senior-most member of the HoR, Pashupati Shumsher JB Rana.
Asked if the Nepali Congress offered premiership to the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chair Rajendra Lingden to break the current seven-party alliance led by the CPN-Maoist Centre Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Lekhak said, "I do not know anything about it. We will hold our parliamentary party meeting to decide on the vote of confidence issue."
Meanwhile, CPN (US) Chair Mahdav Kumar Nepal ruled out any possibility of unity with the CPN-UML. Talking to mediapersons here today, Nepal said his party would take the initiative to forge unity with like-minded parties. Nepal said his party would initiate dialogue with the Upendra Yadav-led Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal and in the preliminary round of talks they would discuss the possibility of ideological convergence before deciding on the unity. Asked if his party would back the Pushpa Kamal Dahal government in the trust vote, Nepal said his party would decide on that only after seeing the government's policies.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 6, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
