Submit your Article

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said discussions were underway at the political level to end the deadlock of the House of Representatives and it would be resolved soon.

Talking briefly to mediapersons at Biratnagar today, Prime Minister Dahal shared that the recent impasse would be resolved through political discussion.

He expressed the belief that problems could be resolved by studying the overall issue related to cooperatives and the topic concerning Rastriya Swatantra Party President and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane separately.

"Formation of a parliamentary probe committee has been demanded keeping Deputy Prime Minister Lamichhane at center, which cannot be addressed," the PM said.

Stating that the opposition parties have been making the problems seen in the cooperative sector as a political issue rather than solving it after the change in the political alliance, PM Dahal underlined, "Earlier, the Nepali Congress was with us in the government. The issue of cooperatives was minor for them at that time. After exiting from the government, formation of a parliamentary probe committee has been demanded keeping Rabi Lamichhane in the center. It is based on political prejudice."

He clarified that the efforts made to break the existing political equation would not be successful.

The Election Commission (EC) provided election symbols to candidates of by-elections of the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The by-elections are scheduled to be held in Ilam-2 and Bajhang-1 on April 27.

A total of 20 candidates, including 12 from different political parties and eight independent candidates had filed their nominations in Ilam.

Of them, an independent candidate Keshav Kumar Chapagain withdrew his candidacy. The name list of the remaining 19 candidates was published and they were provided with election symbols.

Similarly, in Bajhang, 12 candidates from 12 political parties had registered their nominations. Of them, a candidate of Nepali Janata Dal, Ashok Sunar, withdrew his candidacy and election symbols were provided to the remaining 11 candidates, according to the EC.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has directed Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane and Finance Minister Barshaman Pun not to threaten businessperson.

Finance Minister Pun revealed that Prime Minister Dahal called him and Home Minister Lamichhane and gave such an instruction.

During an interaction organized on the occasion of 58th annual general meeting of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Minister Pun had urged the businessperson to do business with confidence by paying taxes to the government.

He said that after the reshuffle of the Cabinet, the Prime Minister had called him and Home Minister Lamichhane together for the first time and issued a directive not to threaten the private sector without any reason.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister said that there is no one above the law in the democratic country, 

Bimala Ghimire of the CPN-UML has been elected as the vice-chairperson of the National Assembly.

Ghimire got 39 votes while Bishnu Devi Pudasaini was limited to 16 votes.  

After Ghimire got the majority, National Assembly Chairman Narayan Prasad Dahal announced that she was elected as the vice-chairperson of the National Assembly.

As many as 55 lawmakers took part in the election process.

Pudasaini was proposed by Durga Gurung of the Nepali Congress while Ghimire was proposed by Bhagwati Neupane.

The post had been vacant after National Assembly Vice-Chair Urmila Aryal tendered her resignation on March 28.

After the formation of a new political equation under the leadership of the UML, an agreement was reached among UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane and Janata Samajbadi Party Chairman Upendra Yadav to give National Assembly chair to Maoist Center and vice-chair to UML.

As per the agreement, Narayan Prasad Dahal of the Maoist Center was elected as the National Assembly chair on March 12.

In the 59-member strong upper house, Maoist Center has 18 members, Congress 16, UML 10, CPN (Unified Socialist) eight, Janata Samajbadi Party three, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party one and Janamorcha has one lawmaker.  

Meanwhile, Narayan Prasad Dahal and Bamdev Gautam are the nominated members.