The second meeting of the seventh session of the Lumbini Provincial Assembly has been in limbo for almost two months. The first meeting of the seventh session was held on November 20.

The meeting was adjourned after the letter from the provincial chief Krishna Bahadur Gharti was read out and party leaders exchanged greetings. After that, the second meeting has not been held yet.

Lumbini Province Speaker Tularam Gharti Magar claimed that the meeting could not be called in Mangsir and Poush as political programs of various parties and festivals of various communities fell immediately after the first meeting. He said that efforts are being made to hold the meeting on Magh 6 as soon as possible after Maghi.

‘There has been a long gap since the first meeting, now we are preparing to hold the meeting soon,’ he said, ‘In the meantime, there have been many political activities of various political parties, and then there have been festivals, which is why there has been some delay.’ He said that compared to other provinces, Lumbini has a large number of Tharus, Magars, and Gurungs, so many community festivals fall in Poush and Magh.

According to sources in the Provincial Assembly Secretariat, after the first meeting, the government and the Speaker could not reach an agreement on holding a meeting. Speaker Gharti was also dissatisfied after the federal government sent a letter to reduce the secretariat of provincial government ministers, saying that there was no mention of provincial speakers in the letter.

He had publicly complained that the federal government did not recognize the provincial assembly. In the meantime, pressure had also increased on the Speaker after Lumbini Chief Minister Chet Narayan Acharya reduced the secretariat. Amidst that pressure, Speaker Gharti has now dissolved his secretariat.

Then, when the UML went to the 11th general convention, the Chief Minister and the UML Provincial Assembly parliamentary party requested to postpone the meeting for a few days. After the UML general convention, 8 parties including the CPN-Maoist Center formed the Nepali Communist Party.

After the party also started holding provincial and district-level meetings, the NCP also started the process of forming a parliamentary party in the province. After that, the dispute over the special general convention and the regular general convention increased in the Congress, which also affected the provincial assembly meeting and due to that, the provincial assembly meeting could not be held regularly in Lumbini, said Minister for Agriculture, Land Management and Cooperatives Dinesh Panthi, who is also the government spokesperson.

‘The government has also prepared enough business, now the meeting will be called soon so that it can be held regularly,’ he said, ‘We are preparing to hold the meeting as soon as the candidacy for the House of Representatives is filed.’ The Election Commission has already made public the program for registering candidacies for the House of Representatives on Magh 20.

The bill to amend the Act on the Operation of the District Assembly and District Coordination Committee, 2075 BS, and the bill to amend the Act on the Facilities of Local Level Office Bearers and Members, 2076 BS, have been registered at the Provincial Assembly Secretariat for discussion in the winter session of the Lumbini Provincial Assembly.