The differences between Speaker Agni Sapkota and National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Timalsina have come to the fore with the latter boycotting the meeting called by Sapkota on Wednesday.
Speaker Sapkota had called the meeting of the chairs of different House committees and National Assembly chairman for discussion on Wednesday. But Timalsina sent a message stating that he cannot attend the meeting and went ahead and asked chairs of committees under the National Assembly to not attend the meeting.
"Chairman said there was no consultation," Sustainable Development Committee Chair Tara Devi Bhatta told Setopati.
Speaker Sapkota called off the meeting after Chairman Timalsina and many chairs of the committees from National Assembly and even House of Representatives (HoR) seemed set to not attend the meeting.
Chairman Timalsina has taken exception to Speaker Sapkota unilaterally picking Gopal Nath Yogi as the acting general secretary of the federal parliament.
Speaker Sapkota on Sunday had issued a letter picking Yogi to work as general secretary of the federal parliament, that includes the House of Representatives (HoR) and National Assembly, mentioning that he was selected in consultation with the National Assembly chairman.
Timalsina has taken exception to Sapkota unilaterally selecting Yogi and falsely claiming he was consulted when Sapkota reached the Timalsina's office inside the Singha Durbar on Tuesday, according to a source close to Timalsina.
The source added that Timalsina asked Sapkota to look at the criteria of age and legal questions about qualification for general secretary.
Yogi, who was appointed secretary of the HoR on recommendation of the erstwhile Maoists, will complete the threshold of 45 years 15 months later. Rajendra Phuyal, who was appointed secretary of National Assembly on recommendation of the then CPN-UML, is also just 41 years.
The erstwhile UML leaders in the ruling CPN want a third person to be picked for general secretary with Phuyal not qualifying due to age.
The position is currently vacant after Manohar Prasad Bhattarai retired.
Secretaries with the federal parliament secretariat Bharat Raj Gautam and Dhruba Ghimire are also in race for the post. Baburam Dahal, legal advisor to Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli, and advocate Tikaram Bhattarai are also taken as contenders for the position
