CPN-UML stays away, coalition partners oppose MCC ratification
KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 19
The all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba ended inconclusively as the main opposition party, the CPN-UML, boycotted the meeting, while other partners of the ruling coalition opposed the Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement that Nepal has signed with the United States of America.
Nepal Workers and Peasants Party lawmaker Prem Suwal told mediapersons after the meeting that his party, Rastriya Janamorcha, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party were against the MCC deal. Two other coalition partners - the CPN-Maoist Centre and CPN (US) - said they wanted to pass the MCC agreement only after making some amendments to it.
The US has categorically said that the MCC deal cannot be amended at this stage.
Nepali Congress leaders Ram Chandra Paudel and Ram Sharan Mahat told the meeting that the MCC agreement should be ratified by the Parliament. Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal leader Baburam Bhattarai also said that he favoured ratification of the MCC deal.
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, who is also the government spokesperson, said some parties had doubts about the MCC deal and the government would soon reach a conclusion on the deal after consulting the stakeholders again.
Karki said the all-party meeting urged the UML to end its obstruction in the House. He said the UML's continued obstruction had stalled the passage of crucial bills and the opportunity to raise people's voice in the Parliament.
"In democracy, opposition parties have the right to oppose the government in the Parliament, but that does not mean that the main opposition party should hold the Parliament hostage," he added.
The UML has been obstructing the House proceedings over Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota's alleged bias against it. The UML alleges that Sapkota was unfair and partial when he did not confirm the expulsion of 14 UML lawmakers from the rival faction of the party led by Madhav Kumar Nepal. Nepal split the UML and formed a separate party, CPN (Unified Socialist).
The ruling alliance discussed the House stalemate and MCC deal before discussing the two issues in the all-party meeting.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 20, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
