The House meeting scheduled for Wednesday has been called off due to uncertainty about the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact.
Prime Minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba wanted to move the MCC Compact forward during the meeting on Wednesday and CPN (Maoist Center) wanted to postpone the meeting citing its central committee meeting scheduled for Thursday.
Speaker Agni Sapkota, who was elected on Maoist ticket in the last general election, eventually called off the House meeting on Maoist request despite the party postponing its central committee meeting to Friday and Saturday.
"Our central committee meeting will hold discussion about MCC. We will take a solid decision on this after that," a Maoist leader told Setopati confirming that the House meeting has been called off on the party's request. "The letter written by party chair to MCC will also be discussed. The House meeting has been called off for that."
Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been slammed inside the party for the letter he and PM Deuba jointly penned to the MCC pointing that Dahal has been accused of being a fickle leader due to that.
The recent general convention of the party had decided that the MCC Comapct should not be passed without amendment and many inside the party are pointing that the central committee cannot revoke the decision taken by the general convention.
Chief whip of Maoist Center Dev Gurung stressed that the MCC Comapct cannot be passed without amendment but claimed that the House meeting has not been called off on the party's request.
He argued that the joint letter sent by the two coalition leaders merely sought time for passing the MCC Compact and should not be taken as a commitment to that regard. "There has been a mistake not paying attention to diplomatic decorum as the letter to be penned by a joint secretary has been sent by the PM and former PM. The letter, on the other hand, can neither be taken as the government's letter nor the coalition's letter," Gurung stated.
Another coalition partner CPN (Unified Socialist) is also not in favor of passing the MCC Comapct without amendment. The party's 'respected leader' Jhala Nath Khanal who led the task force formed by the ruling coalition to discuss the MCC Compact has already recommended that it should not be passed as it is. Khanal had told Setopati that many documents still need to be studied.
Speaker Sapkota has also been publicly opining that there should be national consensus on the issue of MCC. He has been pointing that discussion on the MCC cannot be held amidst House obstruction by CPN-UML.
The main opposition party has been demanding expulsion of the then lawmakers of the Khanal-Nepal faction punished by UML or resignation of Speaker Sapkota for not expelling those lawmakers who are now in CPN (Unified Socialist).
