Discussion on the much-awaited Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact scheduled for Thursday in the House of Representatives was postponed for Friday afternoon.
Two Ministers, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Communication and Information Technology, and Dilendra Prasad Badu, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, met with Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota on behalf of the Prime Minister to reschedule the session for another day.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is facing political pressure as coalition partners, CPN-Unified Socialist and Maoist Centre, decided to stand against the MCC compact. The Prime Minister was busy holding political meetings and discussions with the ruling and opposition parties the whole day.
Federal Parliament Secretariat also issued a notice to inform the lawmakers about the cancellation of the House session. Dr. Bharat Raj Gautam, General Secretary in the secretariat, said that the Speaker cancelled the scheduled session of the House for the day due to special reason. “The Speaker had cancelled the session of the House staying under the provision of point 6-III of the House of Representatives Regulation-2075,” read the statement.
Earlier, the Parliament Secretariat had published a tentative schedule for the day with two businesses including the discussion on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
According to the schedule, Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma was to present a proposal seeking for the discussion on MCC in the House on behalf of the government. However, Minister Sharma flew to Baglung with his wife in the morning.
If the government succeeds in building political consensus among parties, the HoR on Friday would discuss on MCC.
Minister for Law Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Dilendra Prasad Badu will present annual report of the ‘Attorney General’ in the Lower House on Friday.
After the postponement of the meeting, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba held a meeting with the leader of the main opposition, CPN-UML, KP Sharma Oli at the latter’s office in the parliament building.
In the meeting, PM Deuba was accompanied by Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki.
Likewise, UML senior vice chairman Ishwar Pokhrel and vice chairman Subas Nemanng accompanied UML chair Oli.
Likewise, main opposition leader Oli and CPN (Maoist Centre) chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda also held a meeting at the office of the main opposition leader.
Source : TRN,