Budget session commences; House adjourned as Congress continues obstruction

Kathmandu / May 10: The first meeting of the budget session of the House of Representatives has been adjourned until Tuesday following obstruction from the Nepali Congress lawmakers.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire at first adjourned the meeting for 15 minutes after lawmakers from the main opposition party didn’t allow the Speaker to take ahead the House proceedings demanding a parliamentary probe against Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Rabi Lamichhane.

The meeting was adjourned until 6pm on Tuesday after the lawmakers continued obstruction in the second sitting as well.

At the beginning of the meeting, Speaker Ghimire allowed Nepali Congress lawmaker Gagan Thapa to speak.

Speaking at the meeting, Thapa said his party will not allow the House to run its proceedings until a parliamentary committee is formed to probe Minister Lamichhane over his alleged involvement in cooperative frauds.

“The Congress will not allow any proceedings of the House until a parliamentary inquiry committee is formed to probe cooperative frauds. The ruling parties are responsible for it [House obstruction] not the Congress,” Thapa said.

Thapa alleged that there is enough evidence against the deputy prime minister, adding he misused the Office of the Attorney General to protect himself from investigation.

Congress lawmakers stood from their seats, picketed the rostrum and chanted slogans after Speaking Ghimire attempted to take ahead the proceedings.

The Congress, which has been demanding a parliamentary panel to investigate the minister’s involvement in the scams since the formation of the current ruling alliance, on Tuesday rejected the ruling parties’ proposal of a panel with broad authority to look into overall problems of the cooperative sector.

The largest party also resorted to the obstruction of several proceedings of the House of Representatives in the winter session that was prorogued in mid-April. As a result, the House could not make much headway in terms of law-making.

Before the national budget is presented, both the Houses of the federal parliament must endorse the government’s policies and programmes after deliberations. The President is scheduled to present the policies and programmes in the joint sessions of both Houses on Tuesday.