E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, SEP 19 -  

The State Affairs Committee (SAC) of the Parliament failed to form four specialised subcommittees on Monday due to fissures within the UCPN (Maoist) party over the names recommended for the panels.

Lawmakers sympathising with Party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Vice Chairman Mohan Baidya objected to the names recommended for the panels saying the decision was taken without consulting with them. SAC Chairman Ramnath Dhakal had picked names of Maoist lawmakers to represent the party in the subcommittee based on the recommendation of Maoist Spokesperson Dinanath Sharma.

The House committee was scheduled to form a subcommittee to probe the sale of military antiques as well as subcommittees for recommendation of traffic management; to determine hierarchy and distribution of facilities to VVIP's; and to minimise domestic violence as well as that against women and dalits. Lawmakers expressed reservations about the names recommended for subcommittee seats saying the decision was taken without taking them into confidence.

Dhakal expressed 'surprise' at the dissatisfaction over the feud in the committee saying the recommendation was made in line with the past tradition. The parliament secretariat and the chairman consult with focal persons named by the major parties before presenting the formal proposal, committee officials said.

Maoist Spokesperson Sharma, NC lawmaker Arjun Joshi and UML lawmaker Pradip Gyawali are acting as focal leaders in the committee. The subcommittee was proposed after consultation with them, said an official at the parliament secretariat.

Speaking at Monday's meeting, lawmaker Parshuram Ramtel, who belongs to the Baidya faction, clamed that party leaders had failed to nominate representatives as per the aspirations of the lawmakers. “Our leaders felt that we will okay whatever they command,” he said, stressing that the committee chairman should not decide only on the basis of senior leaders' advice.

CA member Hariraj Limbu threatened to write a note of dissent if lawmakers were prevented from using their conscience regarding the subcommittee formation. Maoist lawmaker Bhim Prasad Gautam urged postponement of the subcommittee formation till the differences are resolved within the party.

Maoist Spokesman Sharma, who now is in the Dahal faction, said the recommendation of members in the parliamentary subcommittee is not something that should be decided by the Maoist party. “We can fix the names from here. We should not set a trend of distributing membership in the subcommittees by allocating seats for different party factions,” he said, adding that lawmakers had failed to grasp the notion of the subcommittee functions.

Meanwhile, the State Affairs Committee has invited acting Prime Minister and Home Minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar to inform about the government's preparedness in disaster response in its meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

Posted on: 2011-09-19 11:30

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