House of Confrontation
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WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXIX No. 17 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 31.3 C -0.1 C Sunday, March 07, 2021 | 23-11-2077 Bhairahawa Jumla House of confrontation As Parliament session begins, Oli will try to prove his legitimacy while the Dahal-Nepal faction, though still confused, prepares to nix his plan. BINOD GHIMIRE & ANIL GIRI it has split politically, legally continues to KATHMANDU, MARCH 6 remain one, as the Election Commission has not given a verdict on the party legit- When the meeting of the House of imacy dispute. Representatives commences on Sunday, The Janata Samajbadi Party wants con- Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his crete assurances also, if it were to sup- faction of the Nepal Communist Party port Dahal and Nepal, regarding its con- will try their best to make it look like cerns—ranging from constitutional business as usual. amendments to the release of its lawmak- The government’s priority, according er Resham Chaudhary from jail. to sources, will be presenting the ordi- The Congress party, which has held a nances in a semblance of providing busi- series of internal meetings as well as ness to the House and letting the House talks with leaders from across the politi- function as if everything is normal, cal spectrum, including Oli, Dahal and unless the faction led by Pushpa Kamal Nepal, has said that it would make a deci- Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal takes a sion only after the Nepal Communist drastic step. Party sees a formal split. Though the Dahal-Nepal faction And even if it were to support the wants to unseat Oli, it has yet to decide Dahal-Nepal faction, will it be just to give whether to file a no-confidence motion a leg up to Dahal? against him. Multiple Congress leaders have told the As per the preliminary business sched- Post over the past few days that the party ule published by the Parliament would be interested in leading the govern- Secretariat on Saturday, the government ment, rather than just backing one side— will present as many as eight ordinances, Oli or the Dahal-Nepal-led faction. In that including the one related to the amend- case, if the Dahal-Nepal faction files a ment to the Constitutional Council no-confidence motion against Oli with (Functions, Duties and Procedures) Act- POST FILE PHOTO the Congress party’s support, it should 2010 issued on December 15. With the Nepal Communist Party legitimacy row unresolved, the House session is headed for a confrontation, observers say. name Congress President Sher Bahadur Bishal Bhattarai, who was appointed Deuba as the next prime minister. the chief whip of the Nepal Communist Representatives was endorsed by Congress party, which has 63 members also because the Supreme Court over- Oli and Deuba too have been in touch Party by Oli on February 26 in place of President Bidya Devi Bhandari. (two suspended) in the House, its no-con- turned his decision to dissolve the for quite a while, but what understanding Dev Gurung, told the Post that the govern- The Dahal-Nepal faction is unlikely to fidence motion will fall flat. In such a House,” said Shrestha. they have been discussing is not clear yet. ment’s priority will be getting the ordi- revive the same no-confidence motion, in case, Oli will get a lease of life until “Second, he has lost the majority in the One possibility is that Oli is seeking nances through Parliament. which it had proposed Dahal as the next March next year, as constitutional provi- party as well. A majority of parliamentar- Congress party’s support in case he seeks “All the ordinances will be presented prime minister. sions don’t allow another no-confidence ians are against him. If he does not a vote of confidence. But leaders have before the House on the very first day,” Officials at the Parliament Secretariat motion for one year. resign, then in consultation with the stopped short of saying what that deal said Bhattarai. “Getting them endorsed is said they have not heard anything about a Narayan Kaji Shrestha, spokesperson Nepali Congress and the Janata entails. A likely scenario is that Oli sur- the government’s top priority.” no-confidence motion. for the Nepal Communist Party (Dahal- Samajbadi Party, a no-confidence motion vives with Congress support and in The House meeting is commencing on “There is no information regarding Nepal faction), told the Post that they will be registered.” return, he lets Deuba lead the govern- Sunday after the Supreme Court on any no-confidence motion from any side,” have yet to decide on tabling a no-confi- If the Dahal-Nepal faction indeed has ment—for at least a year until the elec- February 23 overturned Oli’s December Gopal Nath Yogi, a secretary for the dence motion against Oli, as they are still 115 lawmakers on its side, as claimed by tions in 2022. 20 decision to dissolve the House. Oli, House of Representatives, told the Post. in discussions with the Nepali Congress Shrestha, the Janata Samajbadi Party’s Despite Deuba’s public statements that however, has refused to resign on moral The Nepali Congress’ silence has put and Janta Samajbadi Party. support will be sufficient to remove Oli. he is in no hurry to become prime minis- grounds and has decided to face the the Dahal-Nepal faction in a fix. It is hesi- The Janata Samajabadi Party has 34 In the 275-member House of ter, he has made it sufficiently clear that House. He has even challenged his oppo- tant to file a no-confidence motion against members (two suspended) in Parliament. Representatives, the magic number is 138. he is not averse to the idea. nents to remove him if they can. Oli because it lacks the numbers to get it “Our first and foremost demand is Oli The Janata Samajbadi Party, however, Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is like- The Dahal-Nepal faction had registered through Parliament. should resign. He has plunged into the has already made it clear that for it to ly to pass a verdict soon on a case filed by a no-confidence motion against Oli on The faction has been claiming that it minority inside the party since as many support Dahal-Nepal faction, it first needs Rishiram Kattel, who claims that Nepal December 20, hours after the government has around 87 to 90 lawmakers on its side. as 115 lawmakers are against him. Oli to say whether it is a “formal party”. Communist Party name belongs to him. recommendation to dissolve the House of Even then, without the support of the cannot remain prime minister morally The Nepal Communist Party, although >> Continued on page 2 POST PHOTO: SANJOG MANANDHAR Bikram Maharjan breaks blocks of ice during the 15th Budokaido full contact competition at Basantapur, Kathmandu on Saturday. Short of doses, government decides to vaccinate only those above 65 from today The Health Ministry has 1.5 million shots, WHO is delivering 348,000 on Sunday and the delivery of a million doses from Serum Institute of India is expected within a week. ARJUN POUDEL “Yes, neither the World Health KATHMANDU, MARCH 6 Organization’s COVAX facility could deliver us the doses it had committed The plan was to inoculate 3.7 million earlier, nor could we buy sufficient Nepalis above the age of 55 from doses on our own,” said an official Sunday as part of the second phase of at the Health Ministry, asking not to a nation-wide immunisation cam- be named. paign against Covid-19. Of the 1.5 million vaccine doses, But now with only 1.5 million doses about 500,000 are what remain from of vaccine in hand, the government the one million doses that India pro- has decided to inoculate only those vided in January in grant and another above 65, who number 1.6 million. million is what the Serum Institute of India has delivered of the two million Nepal bought last month. Authorities expect the remain- ing million doses, bought at $4 per dose, to arrive within a week. Nepal on Sunday will also get 348,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine from the World Health Organization’s COVAX pro- gramme although in early February, it had forecasted to provide 2,256,000 vaccine doses REUTERS by the end of the month. The second phase of vaccination begins on >> Continued on page 2 Sunday with Covishield shots available. C M Y K SUNDAY, MARCH 07, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL Karnali Corridor bringing prosperity in the region Economic activities have increased in various districts of Karnali Province with the construction of the corridor. TULARAM PANDEY IN KALIKOT districts of Karnali Province. Anga & RAJ BAHADUR SHAHI IN MUGU Bahadur Shahi of Soru Rural MARCH 6 Municipality-4 in Mugu district has not gone to India for the past three The daily life of 78-year-old Aja years, as he’s been working for the Pharsal of Shantighat in Kalikot Ward road construction project. No. 6 has changed. Until five years Birkha Bahadur Shahi of ago, Pharsal had to walk around three Photugaun in the same rural munici- hours to reach the nearest market- pality said he could earn around Rs place to sell his vegetables. Now, with 500,000 a year by working in the corri- the construction of the Karnali dor project. Not only Anga Bahadur Corridor, his vegetables reach the and Birkha Bahadur but around 300 market via vehicles.