The Province 2 government on Thursday defended Chief Minister Mohammad Lal Babu Raut’s ‘controversial remarks’ during the civic reception hosted in Janakpur to honour Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

CM Raut’s remarks echoed ‘public sentiments’, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Gyanendra Yadav, n behalf of the province government, told the Province Assembly meeting on Thursday.

“It is the responsibility of a people’s elected representative to publicise the peoples’ sentiments. Therefore, the CM spoke about the flaws of constitution. It is futile to comment unnecessarily on this issue,” said Yadav. 

During the civic reception of Indian premier Modi last Friday, CM Raut said the struggle against ‘discriminatory constitution’ continues.

Speaking at the assembly meeting earlier, the lawmakers of the opposition parties, Nepali Congress and the left alliance, criticised CM Raut’s remarks and demanded the government to clarify.

They claimed that CM’s remarks were against diplomatic norms.

Speaker Saroj Kumar Yadav instructed the province executive to explain in the assembly after the lawmakers raised the issue. The lawmakers demanded CM Raut should be present in the assembly and answer questions on this issue. CM Raut did not address the assembly as

he is in Kathmandu for the past few days.

Regarding the distorted national flag hoisted during the inauguration of Ramayan Circuit on the premises of Janaki Temple, Minister Yadav said that the provincial government had no knowledge about it as the programme was organised by Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The first parliamentary session of the assembly ended on Thursday. Governor Ratneshwor Lal Kayastha formally ended the session. The Cabinet meeting held on Thursday also agreed to present five bills in the assembly.