President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister (PM) Sharma Oli have both assured CPN Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal that no ordinance will be issued after sudden prorogation of House session Thursday.
The sudden prorogation of the House session has led to speculations that under-fire Oli may again bring ordinance to make splitting of political parties easier even as he is cornered inside the party.
Dahal stopped the standing committee meeting Thursday afternoon after the Cabinet decided to recommend prorogation and first met Oli and then President Bhandari. "Dahal had gone to Shital Niwas to discuss whether any ordinance will come or not. Both the president and the PM have assured that ordinance will not be issued," CPN Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha told media persons after the standing committee meeting ended for the day shortly after resuming upon Dahal's return from Shital Niwas.
Shrestha claimed that Oli had promised Dahal to not hold Cabinet meeting and prorogue House session Thursday morning. "The standing committee also discussed about that."
Keshav Badal and Amrit Bohara spoke during the stop-start meeting on Thursday before it was adjourned till Saturday.
Shrestha said party unity is in grave threat. "The meeting has been adjourned till 11 Saturday morning to hold mutual discussion to prevent and boost party unity at any cost with serious concern as to whether party unification has reached a turn of serious crisis," Shrestha stated. "What does party unification in crisis mean? It means it's in peril. The discussions are now focused to try till the final hour to save the party from the crisis."
He revealed that the two chairmen and other leaders will start discussion to resolve the crisis from today itself or tomorrow.
The Cabinet meeting that started at 12:30 Thursday afternoon took the decision to write to the president recommending prorogation of the budget session effective from five Thursday evening. President Bidya Devi Bhandari accordingly has already prorogued the House session.
The meeting had ended after hastily taking the decision for prorogation even before Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, Forest Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Agriculture Minister Ghanashyam Bhusal, Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai and others join the meeting.
The sudden prorogation of the House session has led to speculations that under-fire Oli may again bring ordinance to make splitting of political parties easier even as he is cornered inside the party.
Oli had also brought similar ordinance in April when the intra-party dispute was escalating and later took it back to defuse the situation following widespread criticism both inside and outside the ruling party.
The government cannot bring ordinances when the House session is on.
The Cabinet on April 20 had brought an ordinance about political parties to make splitting of parties easier. The Cabinet had brought the ordinance allowing splitting of a party with support of 40 percent in either the parliamentary party or the central committee. The act about political parties requires support of 40 percent in both the parliamentary party and the central committee to split any political party.
Those in the anti-Oli camp now fear that he may bring similar ordinance.
An overwhelming majority of members during the ongoing standing committee meeting have demanded Oli's resignation. Oli is in similar minority even in the central committee and would struggle to muster necessary 40 percent to split the party as is required by the current law.
Bringing a similar ordinance will allow him to split ruling CPN with backing of 40 percent in just the parliamentary party should he decide to split the party. An application for registration of erstwhile CPN-UML, reportedly with Oli's blessing, has already been filed at the Election Commission.
Law Minister Shiv Maya Tungbahamphe, however, allayed such suspicions and said the House session has been prorogued due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the House business has already been finished. "The decision to recommend prorogation has been taken due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the House business has been completed," she pointed.
But a few important bills and agenda are still stuck in the House. The bills on citizenship, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, corruption and others were in process to be passed by the House.
The issue of endorsement of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) was also stuck in the House.
