HEADLINE NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

House session disrupted for second day Tuesday

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Feb, 13: The parliamentary session was disrupted for the second consecutive day today. Opposition lawmakers in the Lower House of Parliament again walked out of the parliamentary session demanding Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s resignation.

The opposition parties, including the main opposition Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), the second and the third largest parties in the parliament have been demanding that PM Girija Prasad Koirala resign over the leasing of Lauda Air plane.

However, Nepal Sadbhavana Party, which had also followed the other opposition parties’ staging programmes yesterday, stayed away from the protest. However, the NSP lawmakers also did not participate in the three-hour long discussion in the House of Representatives which began its winter session merely a week ago.

But before Speaker Taranath Ranabhat announced the start of the Zero Hour members of the opposition parties raised their voice unitedly against the government. After they explained why the Prime Minister should resign from the high chair they walked out of the House. Then, the Speaker adjourned the House till tomorrow 11 A.M.

Since today’s sitting was disturbed, Speaker Ranabhat had to request the chief whips of all the political parties to help him create a favourable atmosphere in the House.

However, his request fell into deaf ears.

Many of the opposition legislators today repeated their stalled-demand over Prime Minister’s resignation on moral grounds while the ruling party MPs claimed that the government and the Prime Minister have done no wrong and were not involved in the alleged irregularity regarding the Lauda Air aircraft deal.

As soon as the Speaker entered the House at 11 A.M. and began to proceed ahead the session, Ishwor Pokharel of the CPN-UML denounced the state-owned Radio Nepal’s report on yesterday’s House proceeding and called it biased.

He further said that their demand of PM’s resignation was not against constitution as explained by the "Ghatana Ra Bichar" programme of the Radio Nepal on Monday. Demanding Prime Minister Koirala’s resignation he said that Koirala can no longer remain in the country’s Prime Minister since he has been implicated in the Lauda Air scandal and has lost the majority in the Parliament.

Getting time from the Speaker former Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Tarini Dutta Chataut said that the Lauda Air deal was done for the benefit of the country and all the dealings were transparent.

NC MP Narayan Singh Pun said that the opposition demand regarding the Prime Minister’s resignation was merely a plot to create instability within the Nepali Congress Party and the government. He asked the opposition MPs to wait till the Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) comes out with its conclusion regarding the Lauda Air deal.

"If the Constitutional body finds Prime Minister involved in corruption we will also seek his resignation," he said.

Other NC MPs Shankar Pandey and Ram Chandra Tiwari said that the idea of seeking resignation of the Prime Minister with false claim was not appropriate. Shankar Pandey, meanwhile, asked the Parliament to establish a powerful parliamentary committee so that it could check out if the MPs have collected money by illegal means. "We now need to justify ourselves to the people that we are not corrupt."

However, blaming the Prime Minister for being actively involved in the leasing of the loss-making Lauda Air aircraft deal, RPP lawmaker Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani said that the Prime Minister should resign immediately if he wants to give an outlet to the country’s present situation marred by corruption and many other discrepancies.

Similarly, President of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party Narayan Man Bijukchhe, Navaraj Subedi of the United Peoples’ Front and Lilamani Pokhareli of the National Peoples’ Front reiterated main opposition leader’s contentions and said they would not let the House proceed ahead until their demand is met.

Meanshile MPs of the CPN-UML and other opposition parties boycotted the National Assembly meeting today even before the regular work of the meeting could commence.

The regular work of the House however went ahead as Nepal Sadbhavana Party MP Gajendra Narayan Singh was present in the opposition benches.

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