Parliamentarians hopeful of Speaker running parliament by parliamentary values
Various leaders and parliamentarians, representing the political parties in the parliament, have expressed their confidence that the newly elected Speaker Agni Prasad Kharel would run the parliament as per the parliamentary principles and values.
Sapkota was elected to the post of Speaker unopposed last Sunday and assumed office after taking oath of the office and secrecy before President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Monday.
Samajbadi Party’s Dr Baburam Bhattarai was confident that Sapkota would perform the role of Speaker as an able person. Bhattarai drew the attention of the newly elected Speaker Sapkota towards the current Order of Precedence of Nepal which places Speaker of the HoR after the Chief Justice and Prime Minister on the protocol.
He argued that the Speaker should be placed after the President and Vice-President since the democratically elected representatives should be ranked at the top always. According to his observation, many parliaments across the world were functioning in that pattern.
"We have placed Prime Minister on the top and after that comes the Chief Justice who interprets the laws formulated by the parliament. The Speaker ought to be placed above the Chief Justice," the former Prime Minister said, adding "Parliament is basically an opposition."
In other countries, according to him, the Speakers there would prioritize the opposition’s voice. He viewed that the parliament was engaging in petty issues and could not broach many national issues for deliberation and resolution due to this.
He opined that talks on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) should be discussed as a national issue rather than deliberating on it by factions within the political parties.
Similarly, Rastriya Janata Party (RJP) Nepal leader Mahendra Raya Yadav pledged utmost support from his party to the newly elected Speaker. Hitting out at the government’s performance, he said that only the government was stable but the normal people were having hard time making a living in the country.
Demanding the earliest release of more than 16 leaders including Resham Chaudhary who are doing their times in jail, he appealed with the government to enforce the agreement inked with the sugarcane farmers.
Likewise, Rastriya Janamorcha’s Durga Poudel said that she and her party were confident that Speaker Sapkota would pay respect to the post by remaining impartial and run the parliament by taking everyone on board.
Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (NWPP) Prem Suwal said he was hopeful that the Speaker would play a neutral and impartial role to make the parliament responsible towards the public and make government accountable to the parliament.
He also drew the government’s attention towards resolving the border-related issue between Nepal and India, especially surrounding the Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh. Nepal had sufficient evidence to show that these territory belong to Nepal.
