Parliament is held hostage by the power-opposition clash

Speaker Devraj Ghimire took the initiative on Monday by bringing together the top leaders of the ruling and opposition parties to remove the deadlock and return the parliament to normal functioning. But since there is no way out of this, there are signs that Parliament, an important place of policy making and law making, will be engulfed in political tussle. Even though his name was associated with misappropriation of cooperative savers' funds, Ravi Lamichhane, Chairman of RSVP, was made Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal in the new equation. After that, the Congress has been demanding a parliamentary committee to investigate Lamichhane.

Chief whip of Congress Ramesh Akhtar has said that the party cannot retreat from this as the parliamentary inquiry committee is part of normal practice. A leader of the Maoists said that if the Congress continues the policy of obstructing the parliament, the ruling party is in a state of mind to end the winter session and prepare for the annual session within a few days.

There is no consensus even within the Congress regarding the demand for a parliamentary inquiry. In Congress, along with some leaders of the establishment party, Shekhar Koirala, Chief Minister Gagan Thapa and Vishwaprakash Sharma, most of the leaders of other parties are adamant that this demand should be used as a weapon to reduce the popularity of Lamichhane. However, Chairman Sher Bahadur Deuba and some close to him are in favor of not increasing the distance with the RSVP in view of the possible power equation in the future.

In the meeting called by Speaker Ghimire, Prime Minister Dahal asked Congress President Deuba that 'your bottom line is the parliamentary committee'. However, after Deuba remained silent on this matter, Dahal again requested, 'Once again, please reconsider your demand and let the house run tomorrow (Tuesday). Then we will discuss it again.'' The chief whip writer on behalf of the Congress was of the opinion that the bottom line of the Congress should be the formation of a parliamentary committee. The working committee of the Congress Parliamentary Party also decided to make it the 'bottom line'.

"We are not even asking for a judicial inquiry, we are not saying that the Home Minister should resign," said Chief Minister Sharma, "Now the ultimatum is over." The government should prepare to form a committee when it comes to the parliament. Earlier, it has been preventing Lamichhane from going to the rostrum, but the Congress is seen to be blocking all the activities of the parliament from the next meeting. "Since the meeting of the parliamentary party to be held tomorrow (Tuesday) will make a formal decision on the party's position, the government will not move ahead with the house as it wants," said the writer.

UML Vice President Vishnu Paudel insisted that the issue being raised by the Congress is not worthy of a parliamentary inquiry. A parliamentary inquiry committee is not necessary in this matter. You should reconsider your demand," said Paudel. In the meeting, UML chief whip Mahesh Bertaula also asked the opposition to reconsider as a parliamentary inquiry committee could not be formed. Home Minister Lamichhane, who is also the chairman of the RSVP, expressed his displeasure with the action of the Congress in not allowing him to go to the rostrum as he is also an MP.

'I have no fault in misappropriating the funds of the cooperative. It is a matter of when you are in government. Since I am also an MP, I am not allowed to go to the rostrum and speak?'' was his question to the Congress leader. "It was not good to not even allow to speak in the Parliament, to sneeze. If an inquiry committee is to be formed in a vertical complaint, it should be prepared to investigate all the accused. Parliamentarians, leaders should be ready to investigate everyone," said Santosh Pariyar, chief whip of RSVP, quoting Lamichhane. "Now the strategy is to demand the formation of a parliamentary inquiry committee, then to force Lamichhane to resign. "We are going to ban MPs, Deputy Prime Ministers and Home Ministers from the rostrum to see if there is any manipulation in this alliance," said Pariyar.