KATHMANDU, Feb 20: Stating that they have failed to act in line with the duties assigned to them by the constitution, Prime Minister KP Oli has accused the Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun and Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota of acting in such a way as if they were opposition to the government.
Addressing a mass gathering organized by his faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) in Biratnagar on Saturday, Prime Minister Oli also expressed strong dissatisfaction over the way the vice-president and the speaker have been acting “even as their positions do not allow them to be involved in such acts.”
Speaker Ghimire’s Neutrality Under Question
Prime Minister Oli alleged that Speaker Sapkota took the help of forged signatures to file a court case against the government. “We chose the speaker. But he turned out to be an opposition. The Speaker is a party to conflict against the government. I feel ashamed to know that a person of the stature of Speaker is involved in forgery. He authenticated a proposal that reached him at 3:30PM as if it were taken to him at 10AM,” he said.
Similarly, Prime Minister Oli criticized Vice-president Pun for failing to fulfill his constitutional obligations. In addition to boycotting the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-appointed ministers and those in the constitutional bodies, Vice-president Pun delivered a speech in public against the move of the prime minister to dissolve parliament.
“Our vice-president has started delivering speeches against the government. Does his position allow him to do so?” he asked. Oli suggested to Vice President Pun to start talking in favor of the election although “he came from the background of not holding any elections”.
On the occasion, Prime Minister Oli also defended his move to dissolve parliament. Arguing that the reinstatement of parliament would lead to a situation in which none of the parties in parliament would be in a position to form a majority government alone and that this would give rise to horsetrading and a fresh round of instability, Prime Minister Oli expressed confidence that the apex court will duly understand the situation and take appropriate decisions.
