Khanal under fire from UML lawmakers

KATHMANDU, April 27: Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal has come under fire for not showing up at the UML´s Parliamentary Party (PP) meeting on Tuesday just two days after he drew criticism from his own party for deferring until further notice the scheduled Central Committee (CC) meeting on Sunday.



Though UML Chief Whip Bhim Acharya on Tuesday had proposed holding discussions on the upcoming annual budget and policies and programs, lawmakers strongly objected to the proposal saying no discussions can be held in the absence of PP leader Khanal.[break]



The prime minister flew to Rasuwa in the afternoon instead of attending the meeting in Singha Durbar.



The meeting was deferred after lawmakers Ramnath Dhakal, Yamlal Kandel, Agni Kharel and Ravindra Adhikari, among others, stood against the idea of giving continuity to the meeting even without the presence of Khanal.



“We were informed that the parliamentary party leader would chair the meeting. We refused to hold any meeting because the chief whip proposed holding discussions in the absence of prime minister,” Dhakal told Republica.



He said they were also against the proposal of holding deliberations on the upcoming budget and policies and programs. “As the Constituent Assembly deadline is expiring soon, serious discussion with regard to concluding the peace process and constitution writing is more urgent than the budget issue,” Dhakal said.



Many leaders interpreted Khanal´s absence as his ploy to evade lawmakers´ and CC members´ queries instead of listening and responding to them sincerely.



“Our chairman calls the party´s CC meeting and later cancels it. He calls the PP meeting but he himself doesn´t show up there,” Kharel told Republica. “If the chairman thinks that he can run the party and the government in this manner, let him do it. I wish him good luck!”



However, Chief Whip Acharya refuted the allegations. He said the meeting was rescheduled as per the recommendations of the lawmakers. “We called the meeting thinking that the prime minister would be able to manage time but he couldn´t arrive due to time constraints,” he explained.



Khanal was seriously criticized by party leaders for deferring the CC meeting earlier on Sunday saying that another important party event was to happen around the same time.

Related story

Speaker Sapkota urges UML lawmakers not to comment on sub judic...