KATHMANDU: Jockeying to hold the post of the next Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) began soon after the then Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara was arrested earlier this month.
The maneuvering is playing out inside the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) after the party is in a mood to keep the post of Speaker itself and pave the way for the opposition party Nepali Congress to take up the post of Deputy Speaker in line with the constitutional provision.
Current Deputy Speaker Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe, former Speakers Subash Chandra Nemwang and Onsari Gharti, Chief whip of NCP Dev Gurung, NCP lawmaker Agni Prasad Sapkota are engaged in lobbying for the coveted post.
However, leaders of the erstwhile two parties — Maoist Center and the CPN-UML are at loggerheads to grip the coveted post. The former CPN-UML leaders maintain that since the party has already united to become the Nepal Communist Party, any leader who is capable of the post needs to be elected.
“The party has become united. Therefore, it would be injudicious to argue as which faction should get the post,” argues former Speaker and NCP leader Subash Chandra Nemwang adding that the party will decide, not the faction.
Leaders of erstwhile Maoist Center reject Nemwang’s claim saying, “Since the unification process is still in a transitional phase, the post should go to the party which former Speaker Mahara represented,” argues a former Maoist leader Agni Prasad Sapkota, who is also lobbying for the post.
However, Nemwang, who is also favored by Prime Minister K P Oli, is of the opinion that even though he is least interested to take up the position of the Speaker, he would heartily accept if the party decided in his favor.
Currently, Nemwang is learned to have been cultivating a close rapport with PM Oli as well as Dahal.
Meanwhile, discussions are going on within the NCP to keep both the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker. For instance, Hridayesh Tripathi, a lawmaker who won the previous elections by contesting with the election symbol ‘Sun’ (erstwhile UNL’s election symbol) is also an aspirant.
NCP Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal is, however, in favor of Dev Gurung and Agni Sapkota – both former Maoist leaders.
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