House of Representatives adjourned until tomorrow as opposition obstructs proceedings

Kathmandu: The meeting of the House of Representatives has been adjourned until 3:00 PM tomorrow, Thursday, after opposition parties once again disrupted the session, demanding the resignation of Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak over the visit visa controversy.

As soon as the meeting began, opposition lawmakers stood up, raised slogans, and obstructed proceedings. Speaker Devraj Ghimire urged them to allow the House to function, noting that discussions had been stalled for two consecutive weeks. Despite repeated appeals, the opposition continued their protest.

Unable to move forward, Speaker Ghimire announced that all scheduled agenda items had been removed and formally adjourned the meeting until 3:00 PM tomorrow.

Earlier, today’s session, originally set for 1:00 PM, had already been delayed to 3:15 PM due to a lack of consensus among the parties.

Efforts to resolve the impasse included a meeting today between Speaker Ghimire and leaders of the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, CPN-Maoist Center, and the Rastriya Swatantra Party. However, the talks ended without agreement, as both the ruling and opposition parties remained firm in their positions.

Prior to that, opposition parties held a separate meeting to discuss a five-point proposal from the Rastriya Swatantra Party concerning the visit visa issue.

Following discussions with the Speaker, leaders from the Nepali Congress and the CPN-Maoist Center also held talks, but no breakthrough was achieved.

The opposition continues to demand the resignation of Home Minister Lekhak, while the ruling coalition insists that he should not step down. They argue that an independent probe is unnecessary, as the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) is already investigating the matter.