Kathmandu: Both houses of Nepal's Parliament scheduled for Friday were postponed till Sunday as the main opposition party stuck to its demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" over his remarks that an Indian businessman settled here and made efforts to make him the premier.
Prachanda's remarks that he made during a function to launch a book on Sardar Pritam Singh here have stirred up a storm and drawn criticism from several quarters. "He (Singh) had once made efforts to make me the prime minister," Prachanda said. "He travelled to Delhi several times and held multiple rounds of talks with political leaders in Kathmandu to make me the prime minister," Prachanda said of the reported role of Singh, a pioneer trucking entrepreneur in Nepal.
The main Opposition party Communist Party of Nepal-(Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML), has demanded the prime minister's resignation saying that his remarks had undermined the prestige and independence of the country. The CPN-UML Chairperson and former prime minister KP Sharma Oli demanded the prime minister's resignation from the post, saying that his remarks had undermined the national dignity and independence of the country.
Meanwhile, the ruling alliance members, including the Nepali Congress and CPN-Unified Socialist, backed Prachanda. At a meeting held at the Prime Minister's residence at Baluwatar on Thursday, decided that Prachanda would face the Parliament rather than resigning from his post. Senior leader of CPN (Unified Socialist) Rajendra Pandey said the ruling alliance stood behind Prachanda and added that if the opposition parties had any complaints against the prime minister, they could seek a response from him in Parliament.
CPN-UML lawmakers obstructed the National Assembly's meeting on Friday over the prime minister's remarks and stood from their respective seats as a gesture of protest. Parliamentarian Bimala Ghimire said that Prachanda's remarks about an individual and a foreign country taking initiatives to elect the prime minister were against the country's Constitution and sovereignty. Ghimire asserted the National Assembly meetings could not be taken forward unless Prachanda tenders his resignation.
The House of Representatives meeting was also postponed until Sunday, following the disruption by opposition parties the CPN-UML, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP), and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) over Prachanda's remarks. Prachanda, 68, was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Nepal for a third time on December 26 last year.
Meanwhile, Prachanda's Press Adviser Govinda Acharya issued a press note stating that the opposition parties were blowing the prime minister's remarks out of proportion. He said that Prachanda was trying to express the emotional bond he shared with the Indian businessman, but the opposition was blowing the prime minister's remarks out of proportion to serve their political interests.
He said Prachanda's elder daughter Gyanu Dahal stayed at Singh's house in New Delhi when she underwent cancer treatment. Prachanda's party, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre (CPN-MC), also issued press releases condemning the CPN-UML's protest, accusing it of propagating rumours.
The party said Prachanda and Singh shared emotional bonds, and the former's remarks were aimed at highlighting the sincere feelings of the latter, who wanted to see him become the prime minister.
In an oblique reference to Oli, the CPN-MC claimed in its release that people knew well the repeated dissolution of the House of Representatives after (Oli's) midnight meeting with the Indian RAW chief, scuttling the government's attempt to make laws in favour of the people, and the main Opposition party's irresponsible attitude against the government's investigation into old corruption cases were attacks on the new political gains.
"Our party strongly condemns the tendency of fishing in muddy water and looking for a chance to bash others," CPN-MC Spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara stated, making a veiled reference to the CPN-UML. Government spokesperson and Minister for Communication and IT Rekha Sharma said that the present coalition government was not going to collapse despite the resignation sought by opposition parties over Prachanda's remarks.
The government enjoys full support from the people as it is working against corruption and to fulfil the aspiration of the Nepalese people, she said.The Opposition, mainly the CPN-UML, unnecessarily sought the prime minister's resignation over his remarks at a time when the government was working to bring laws against the loan sharks and taking strong measures to eradicate corruption, she pointed out. Meanwhile, an editorial in The Kathmandu Post titled "Think before you speak" said that Prachanda's remarks were against Nepal's sovereignty and the people's mandate.
"No matter how the prime minister's damage-control machinery tries to play down what he has said, Dahal's statement has dishonoured the sovereignty of Nepal's Parliament and the electoral mandate of the people who elected him to power," the editorial said. Calling Prachanda's remarks "callous" it said that opposition parties were right in "seeking a sensible explanation from the prime minister, as an individual holding the nation's most important executive portfolio cannot get away with a strategically sensitive remark like the one Dahal made." It added that the prime minister's tongue-in-cheek remark has already fuelled the fire in a political culture high on rabble-rousing and low on content.
