Meeting of top leaders ends inconclusively

KATHMANDU: An all-party meeting of top leaders of major parties in the parliament ended inconclusively on Tuesday.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire convened the meeting to forge consensus among parties for the smooth functioning of the budget session of parliament which has been summoned on May 10.

The winter session had to be ended abruptly amid obstruction by the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC), which has been calling for the formation of a parliamentary inquiry panel to probe allegations of cooperative fraud against the Minister for Home Affairs and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairperson Rabi Lamichhane.

Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal, NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-UML Chairperson KP Sharma Oli, and RSP President Lamichhane, among others, were present in the meeting.

NC reiterated in the meeting that it won’t let the House session proceed unless a parliamentary inquiry panel is formed. “The home minister appears to be involved in the cooperative fraud. We have neither sought his resignation nor are saying that he should be prosecuted,” NC Chief Whip Ramesh Lekhak said after the meeting. “We are only saying that a parliamentary inquiry committee should be formed as questions have been raised about him.”

UML has said that it was against forming individual-centric inquiry committees. “We are always open to forming a parliamentary inquiry panel to provide justice to thousands of cooperative victims,” UML Chief Whip Mahesh Basnet said.

RSP President Lamichhane said the formation of a parliamentary inquiry panel based solely on complaints without any formal registration would set a bad precedent.