The meeting of CPN Chairmen KP Sharma Oli and Puhspa Kamal Dahal to decide about the party's candidate for speaker has ended.
The two leaders had a one-on-one meeting for almost two hours at the PM's official residence in Baluwatar Sunday morning to discuss the issue. The ruling party has called secretariat meeting for later in the afternoon.
Party sources claim that their recent meetings have been positive.
Both the former CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) factions are claiming for the post of speaker. Oli wishes to make former Constituent Assembly chairman Subas Chandra Nembang the speaker while Dahal has been insisting that Agni Sapkota from the Maoist faction should get the post.
Leaders close to Oli claim that he has yet to back down from his wish to make Nembang the next speaker. "PM's wish still is to make Nembang the speaker. He wants to make a confidant, who will make thing easier for him, speaker," a minister close to Oli told Setopati. The minister added that Oli has put a condition that he should get to choose the person even if the candidate were to be a former Maoist.
Oli is suspicious also because the erstwhile Maoists are negative about the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) that has to be passed through the House and wants to appoint someone who can facilitate its endorsement, according to the minister.
Oli's suspicions escalated after Dahal, senior leaders Jhala Nath Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal, and CPN Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha met at the residence of secretariat member Bam Dev Gautam on January 8.
Deputy Speaker Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe has been defying secretariat meeting's decision asking her to resign while the party has also not been able to select its candidate.
The former Maoists in ruling CPN have started to feel that she has not resigned on instruction of Oli while The House meeting has already been postponed thrice due to the intra-party dispute in the ruling CPN about its candidate for speaker.
The secretariat meeting at the prime minister's residence in Baluwatar on January 11 had asked Deputy Speaker Tumbahangphe to resign even as she had already turned down the request by CPN Chairmen KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal to resign.
The chairman duo had urged Tumbahangphe to pave the way for speaker election by resigning during the meeting at the prime minister's residence in Baluwatar on January 9. But she asked for the reasons that disqualified her from being the next speaker.
"I was active in student politics and am still active. I have studied and taught. What are my weaknesses?" a source quoted her as asking the chairmen.
The source revealed that she urged the chairmen to allow her to continue as deputy speaker if deemed incompetent for speaker.
Ruling CPN cannot claim for the post of speaker if the election process starts without her resigning. The senior most lawmaker will then run the House if she resigns.
The ruling party will have to ask Deputy Speaker Shiva Maya Tumbahamnghe, whose allegiance is now with CPN having won the last general election on a CPN-UML ticket, to resign to keep the post of speaker with the party as the Constitution prohibits appointment of speaker and deputy speaker from the same party.
Both the former CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) factions are claiming for the post of speaker. Oli wishes to make former Constituent Assembly chairman Subas Chandra Nembang the speaker while Dahal has been insisting that Agni Sapkota from the Maoist faction should get the post.
The Maoist faction points that it should again get the post it had received during the power sharing before party unification.
Deputy Speaker Tumbahamnghe's own claim for the post and refusal to resign if denied has compounded matters for the party.
The post of speaker is vacant after Krishna Bahadur Mahara resigned following rape allegation by a federal parliament secretariat staffer.
