ITAHARI: Koshi Province has been without a Speaker for five months.
The post has been lying vacant since Speaker Baburam Gautam stepped down to support Nepali Congress (NC) leader Uddhab Thapa to become the Chief Minister of the Province on August 1. Kedar Karki of NC has now been appointed Chief Minister after the Supreme Court ruled Thapa’s election to the post of Chief Minister unlawful.
The new government has yet to take the initiative to elect a new Speaker. Deputy Speaker Sirjana Danuwar has been overseeing the province assembly’s affairs in the Speaker’s absence.
The ruling coalition in the province has expressed its intention to support Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) province assembly members for the position of Speaker. Ambar Bahadur Bista of the RPP has stated that he would accept the position, although the RPP hasn’t made a formal decision yet.
Bhupendra Rai, chief whip of Nepali Congress in Koshi Province Assembly, stated that the process of selecting the Speaker will begin next week. “There has been talk within the coalition that the position of Speaker should be given to the RPP. The process will begin once we get the green signal from the RPP,” he added.
Rai also mentioned that the coalition will hold a meeting with RPP Chairman Rajendra Lingden before making a decision.
The main opposition CPN-UML has also staked its claim on the position of Speaker. However, since the constitution requires that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker should be from different parties, UML will have to ask the Deputy Speaker to resign first, which is unlikely to happen.
Revati Raman Bhandari, chief whip of UML in the Koshi Province Assembly, said that UML is ready to accept the position of Speaker if RPP denies it. “It will be okay with us if the RPP accepts the position of Speaker,” Bhandari said. “The chief minister has not given us time to discuss the matter.”
Deputy Speaker Srijana Danuwar said that the process of selecting the Speaker will not start until the party leaders decide on the person to become the Speaker. “There is still no agreement on who will be the Speaker,” she said.
Chief Minister Kedar Karki told Himal Press that the process of expanding the cabinet and selecting the Speaker will begin soon. “We will first select the Speaker. Then the provincial assembly committees will be formed. After that, we will expand the cabinet,” Chief Minister Karki said.
