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House debate on Maoist proposal to continue Thursday

The special session of the parliament has been adjourned till 1:00 pm Thursday as the debate on the Maoist proposal could not conclude today.

Speaker Subas Nemwang announced that the debate would continue tomorrow as a few lawmakers were yet to speak on the ‘special political proposal’ tabled by the Maoists.

There was no consensus in sight during today’s debate, too. MPs continued to voice the positions of their respective parties on the Maoist demands for fully proportional voting system and announcement of republic from the House.

Participating in the debate, Nepali Congress lawmaker Gopal Man Shrestha took the Maoists to task for putting forth new demands at the most inopportune time.

Shrestha, who is also the vice-president of the NC, argued that the Maoists had ended up extending the life of monarchy whereas republic would be just a few weeks away from now if the constituent assembly polls had not been suspended.

NC lawmaker Pradeep Giri said the parties should still try to find consensus on the Maoist proposal because a parliamentary voting on it would, predictably, break the unity of the seven parties.

Likewise, UML lawmaker Prakash Jwala said the seven parties were going against public will as they seem to be trying to extend the tenure of the interim parliament. All the contentious issues must be resolved as early as possible, he added.

Maoist whip Janardan Sharma a.k.a Prabhakar said made it clear that his party would not withdraw its proposal in the special session and warned that failure of the proposal could end the Maoists’ alliance with the parties. nepalnews.com mk Oct 31 07