Kathmandu, Dec 19 (IANS) A special session of Nepal’s parliament, summoned Sunday by the opposition Maoists as a challenge to the ruling parties, began on a farcical note as it got adjourned within minutes of it being convened.
The special session, called by the former rebels to force an end to the ongoing futile prime ministerial elections, will now sit once again Thursday, parliament chairman Subhas Nembang said.
The protracted political deadlock that has gripped Nepal since June-end, when then prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal was forced to resign under Maoist pressure, was expected to see some development after parliament convened after a month’s hiatus.
The hiatus was caused after the Maoists tried to prevent Finance Minister Surendra Nath Pandey from tabling the budget last month. It led to a full-scale brawl in parliament following which the government prorogued the house.
While the caretaker prime minister dawdled over summoning parliament again, his hand was forced by the Maoists, who, backed by over 180 MPs, successfully petitioned President Ram Baran Yadav for a special session.
During the session, the Maoists were to have demanded an end to the futile prime ministerial election, which has already seen 16 rounds of vote without any result. The former guerrillas are in favour of a fresh election with new candidates and a maximum three rounds of voting.
But their demands face rejection since the ruling parties, who command majority in the house, have decided to vote against the Maoist proposals.
‘There was no need for the Maoists to call a special session as the prime minister was readying to summon parliament,’ the premier’s political advisor Raghuji Pant said.
‘The special session, called against the wishes of the other parties, smacks of a Maoist design to divert attention from their earlier misconduct in parliament that caused it to be prorogued.’
Before the special session started, the Maoists held last-minute negotiations with the ruling communists and their ally, the Nepali Congress, to reach an agreement on the election but were told they should allow the special session to end first.
The chairman of parliament adjourned the house, saying the Maoist proposal would be discussed on the floor after they had succeeded in reaching an agreement with the other parties.
The failure of the parties to reach an agreement on power-sharing and form a new government has Nepal’s major donor countries worried, especially as the UN that is overseeing the Maoists’ guerrilla army, will exit Jan 15.
If the government is unable to demobilise nearly 20,000 Maoist soldiers before that, it is unlikely that it will be able to promulgate the new constitution by May 2011 and wrap up the four-year-long peace negotiations.
(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)
