Kathmandu, October 2
Nepal’s Parliament has gone into a defacto hibernation mode as the government, reluctant to conclude the session, fails to provide it with business.
The government has been saying that it is preparing to table a bill to amend the constitution to address the demands of Madheshi Morcha before the Dashain break.
Prime Minister Dahal, whose government receives ‘outside’ support from the Morcha, had said he would table the bill before his visit to India. However, Dahal went to India without tabling the amendment bill.
However, the government is under tremendous pressure from the Morcha to table the bill at the earliest.
“The House does not have any business. It has been prorogued for eight-nine days. The government has not been able to table election-related bills as well,” says Subas Nembang, UML’s number two in Parliament.
The constitution amendment bill requires a two-third majority to be passed by Parliament, but the ruling alliance does not have the numbers. The government seems to be buying time to get at least a handful of MPs from the UML and the RPP to support the bill. Parliament is likely to resume only after the government figures out a way to do so.
