CPN-UML lawmakers obstructed proceedings of both Upper and Lower houses of the Parliament yet again on Sunday.
They have been protesting against House of Representative Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota, accusing of being biased against their party. UML lawmakers have disrupted parliament proceedings since Wednesday last week, the very day House sessions resumed.
The last sessions were prorogued on August 17.
UML lawmakers are miffed as Speaker Sapkota, quoting Supreme Court’s orders and constitutional provisions, has barred them from discussing the issues under consideration at the apex court in the Parliament.
UML lawmakers have also alleged that Sapkota facilitated UML’s split by not confirming the expulsion of 14 UML lawmakers, including Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Sunday’s House of Representatives meeting was adjourned till Tuesday after UML lawmakers swarmed the House well, chanted slogans and barred other lawmakers from reaching the podium.
Addressing a UML parliamentary party meeting before the House of Representatives’ session, UML chairperson KP Sharma Oli had instructed party lawmakers to stage a dignified protest.
In a parliamentary session last Friday, a UML lawmaker had told reporters that she planned to hit the House Speaker and the Finance Minister with a microphone.
Stating that his party does not endorse holding Parliament hostage or creating ruckus, Oli warned UML lawmakers not to engage in any activities other than chanting slogans.
Oli, meanwhile, accused the Parliamentary guards of obstructing his party lawmakers from chanting slogans in the House well, and warned that the situation could get worse if such obstruction continued.
Oli, the leader of the main opposition party, said that if they were prevented from protesting in the parliament, they would have to leave the parliament and take to the streets.
Sapkota has summoned an all-party meeting today in a bid to end the stalemate in the House.
