By Our Reporter
The House disrupted by the main opposition party, the CPN-UML, over a controversial statement made by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal while launching a book written by Pritam Singh, an Indian author, on July 4 in Kathmandu, resumed on Monday after the Prime Minister apologised to the House of Representatives.
The UML, which has earned a bad name for obstructing the House over trivial issues for long, began obstructing the House citing that the statement made by the Prime Minister was objectionable.
While launching the book, the PM had said that author Singh had frequented New Delhi to make him Prime Minister. But now after the Prime Minister told the House that he made the stamen by becoming emotional which he should not have uttered as the PM, the UML lifted its obstruction.
PM Dahal, while launching the book ‘Roads to the Valley: The Legacy of Sardar Pritam Singh in Nepal’, in Kathmandu, said, “He [Singh] had once made efforts to make me prime minister. He reached Delhi several times and held multiple rounds of talks with politicians in Kathmandu to make me prime minister.”
The House could not resume until Monday even though main opposition party leader KP Sharma Oli agreed with PM Dahal and NC boss Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday to end the obstruction.
“Although it was not my intent [to suggest that India has a role in appointing prime ministers in Nepal], I would like to express my regret for the statement,” PM Dahal said at the House of Representatives.
He requested everyone to ignore the previous statements issued by his secretariat as well as the one put out by Deputy Prime Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha criticising the House obstruction and said only the statement he made in Parliament on Monday should be considered authentic.
Clarifying the context of his statement, the PM said that he made an emotional speech at the book launch, not as the prime minister but as a father whose dying daughter was once helped by Singh. But Dahal said he later realised that such a statement was inappropriate for the country’s prime minister.
However, Prime Minister Dahal, also criticised the UML for asking for his resignation without allowing him to make clear the House about his statement.
Dahal said it was wrong of the UML and its lawmakers to insinuate that India had a role in appointing him prime minister and to call for his resignation since he was elected to the post through joint efforts of the UML and other parties.
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