Valley
PM gets an earful for keeping half an eye on pressing issues
An all-party meeting called by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Saturday turned into a forum for attending parties to direct slings and arrows at the government for its “multiple failures”.Kamal Dev Bhattarai
An all-party meeting called by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Saturday turned into a forum for attending parties to direct slings and arrows at the government for its “multiple failures”.
Coming down heavily on the government for failing to address the Madhes crisis and expedite reconstruction work, parties represented in Parliament urged PM Oli and his government to take prompt measures.
Drawing the PM’s attention to the long-drawn Madhes crisis, the parties said that the sooner the issue was addressed, the easier it would be to implement the constitution.
In order to revisit the boundaries of federal provinces as demanded by Madhes-based parties, party leaders also advised Oli to reshuffle the political mechanism that was formed with a view to addressing the boundary row.
The political mechanism led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa has remained idle since its formation on February 18, as the Madhes-based parties and the main opposition Nepali Congress have refused to be part of it. PM Oli had called the all-party meeting to gather inputs on Madhes crisis, reconstruction and upcoming budget.
On NC’s take on the political mechanism, Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba said, “We were not consulted while forming the committee. Therefore, we will not be part of it. The Madhes problem has been lingering on due to the negligence on the part of the government.”
Urging PM Oli to take the lead to address the demands of Madhes-based parties, Deuba said, “As Madhes-based parties do not have faith in [this] government team, discussions on forming a new committee could be a better option.”
On reconstruction, Deuba said mobilisation of party cadres will not help much.
“Government agencies need to work effectively to speed up reconstruction,” said Deuba. “If government mechanisms fail to spend the budget, just by mobilising [party] cadres will not yield results.”
On budget, Deuba said that the government should hold pre-budget discussion before bringing the policies and programmes. Along with the main opposition, the ruling parties too criticised the government during the meeting.
Stating that the government has failed to take meaningful steps to resolve the Madhes crisis, senior Rastriya Prajatantra Party leader Pashupati Shumsher Rana said, “Parties and the government should first make their position public regarding two provinces in the Madhes.”
Leaders of the ruling UCPN (Maoist) also criticised the government for putting the Madhes issue on the back burner, while fringe parties asked the government to be serious about Madhes issues.
DPM Thapa, who is also the chairman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N), said he was ready to resign “if it helps to resolve the Madhes problem”.
“I am ready to step down from the political mechanism,” said Thapa.
After scathing remarks from various leaders, PM Oli said that demands of Madhes-based parties “should be addressed through dialogue and consensus”.
“The government is ready to hold negotiations with the Madhes-based parties,” PM Oli told the meeting.
- Parties urge government to be serious about resolving Madhes crisis
- Leaders call for forming a new political mechanism to address boundary dispute
- The main opposition asks government to hold pre-budget discussions before bringing policy and programmes
- Parties draw PM Oli’s attention to slow reconstruction works and urge him to do the needful to expedite the process