KATHMANDU – President of the main opposition party in parliament, the Nepali Congress, Sher Bahadur Deuba has called for moving forward the process for the formation of a new government in accordance with Article 76 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal.
Addressing the meeting of the House of Representatives today on the proposal put forth by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli seeking a vote of confidence, Deuba said the prime minister’s proposal in accordance with Article 100 (1) of the Constitution would not be passed.
He alleged that although the people gave a clear majority to the Nepal Communist Party in the last election, the government and its chief, Prime Minister Oli, forgot the promises made to the people. The government and its chief showed authoritarian and dictatorial tendencies.
The former prime minister said: “The government failed to guarantee good governance, it could not enhance the country’s pride and prestige, and it utterly failed in the prevention and control of Covid-19. Similarly, the government could not maintain law and order, and it carried out works to undermine the constitution, the due process and the system thereby harming the federal democratic republican system itself. This has resulted in a complicated situation in the country at present. The Prime Minister has reached to a state in which he himself has to seek a vote of confidence due to the problems of his own creation.”
The leader of the main opposition party questioned who was responsible for the situation in which the Prime Minister himself has to seek the vote of confidence within mere three years of the formation of the present government with the alliance of the then CPN (UML) and then CPN (Maoist Centre) getting nearly about two-thirds votes in the first parliamentary elections held after the promulgation of the present Constitution. He charged that none but the Prime Minister himself was responsible for this situation.
Deuba stated that the Nepali Congress, as the opposition party, always played a constructive and supportive role to the government. “The chief of the Executive, the Prime Minister, could not run away from his responsibilities by heaping blame and complaints on others,” he reminded.
The main opposition party leader also alleged that the government failed to maintain balanced relations with friendly countries and it could not secure even the assistance as medicines, vaccines and equipment required for the prevention and control of Covid-19 and to save the Nepali citizens that could be taken from international organizations and friendly countries during the frightening situation of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Deuba accused the government of not putting in place effective measures for the prevention and control even after more than a year of the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, saying the people were losing their life for want of hospital beds, ICU care and ventilator support.
“The government did not become aware and serious even though our party had, with the commitment of extending cooperation to it, drawn its attention from time to time since the start of Covid-19 pandemic. The government also did not listen to the warnings given by the experts that new wave of Covid-19 might break out from time to time and the risk could increase any time. It did not manage vaccines against Covid-19 in time. As a result, Nepal has been counted among the countries with high risk of Covid-19. The government is responsible for this situation,” the leader of the main opposition party charged.
He took the government to task, saying it was inhuman, immoral and the height of irresponsibility as well as an unpardonable crime against the people to commit corruption even in the procurement of life-saving medicines.
“Corruption has spawned and mega scandals have occurred in the country over the last three years. The valuable land and properties of the government have been allocated in collusion with business houses at throw-away price, incidences of the minister himself involving in pocketing commission have come to public light, irregularities related to the procurement of goods and materials, medicines and vaccines concerning the prevention and control of Covid-19 have come to light, and important projects of national pride have been lying in limbo due to financial impropriety and corruption,” the main opposition party leader pointed out.
