The meeting of the House of Representatives could not be held on Wednesday as the ruling party did not agree to the opposition party's demand to form a parliamentary inquiry committee on human trafficking under the guise of a visit visa. Due to the continuous interruption of the Parliament meeting, the budget for the next financial year presented by Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel on 15th June could not be discussed.

The opposition parties, who have become flexible on the earlier demand that the Home Minister Ramesh Akhtar should resign, have been maintaining a stand that they will not allow the Parliament session to proceed unless a parliamentary inquiry is conducted.

The ruling parties are arguing that there is no justification for a parliamentary inquiry as the investigation is being carried out by the Abuse of Authority Investigation Commission. They are going to ask Speaker Devraj Ghimire to run the parliament. Opposition parties say that they protested the forced parliament. 

UML chief whip Mahesh Bertaula said that the opposition parties should be responsible and remove the obstruction of the parliament. Business is at a standstill when Parliament is blocked. Discussions on the budget, personnel and other bills should be carried forward," he said. "We are patiently watching the opposition's obstruction. There is no need to wait for many days. Now it is the responsibility of the opposition to open the parliament.

He says that there is no need for another investigation committee on the matter that the authority is looking at. The authority will carry out the investigation of the visit visa case. We must trust a reliable organ of state. It is immature and irresponsible for the opposition to demand the formation of another committee.' 

Congress chief whip Shyam Kumar Ghimire accused the opposition party of being irresponsible by blocking the parliament on the pretext of visit visa issue. "In order to be accountable to the people, the opposition should open the parliament," he said. He said that the demands of the opposition, including the Maoists, cannot be addressed.

The authority has started the investigation in the case of visit visa. Why was another parliamentary committee necessary when the authority was investigating independently?'' he said. Ghimire says that if a minister's resignation is demanded due to irregularities committed by an employee in a government agency, no minister will be able to work. 

Maoists have been saying that the parliamentary party has formed a parliamentary inquiry committee on the visit visa case and that the Home Minister should resign. In the meeting called by Speaker Ghimire on Wednesday, the Congress held that the Home Minister's resignation and the investigation committee were not necessary as the Commission had initiated an investigation into the visit visa case.

After this stand of the Congress, the Maoists reiterated their stance of blocking the Parliament if they were not even ready to form an inquiry committee. As the agreement could not be reached, the meeting of the House of Representatives on Wednesday was adjourned.

Chairman of the main opposition Maoists, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, has said that although they are flexible about the resignation of the home minister over the visit visa case, the fact that the ruling party is not ready to form an inquiry committee is a serious matter. He discussed with close leaders in Khumaltar and mentioned that the ruling party should be responsible for opening the parliament. "At least until the investigation committee is formed, the obstruction will continue in the parliament," said Dahal. 

Maoist chief whip Hitraj Pandey said that it is necessary to conduct an impartial investigation into the visit visa case and bring out the truth. "Since the ruling party is not ready to form an inquiry committee, it is not possible to agree on opening the parliament," he said. Pandey says that the opposition will not let go of the visit visa case where hundreds of people have been victimized and 'setting' to collect lakhs of money. 

Maoist MP Rekha Sharma commented that the ruling party is trying to forcibly run the parliament without even preparing to form a middle ground (Chanbin Committee). We have asked for a parliamentary inquiry into the irregularities that have happened in the past in the name of visit visa. "The ruling party is deliberately trying to cause conflict in the parliament," she said.