KATHMANDU: The task of picking a Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) appears far from simple as ruling Nepali Communist Party (NCP) is caught in a quagmire with its top leaders engaged in horse-trading on the issue.

NCP Chairmen K P Oli, who is also the Prime Minister, and Pushpa Kamal Dahal are ‘struggling’ to break the deadlock over the key position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR).

The post of the Speaker is vacant since October last year after the then Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, charged of sexually abusing a lady employee at the parliament secretariat, stepped down.

“The party will reach to a conclusion before January 6 at any cost,” NCP General Secretary Bishnu Poudel told Khabarhub adding, “Party chairmen Oli and Dahal are engaged in serious consultations.”

However, party sources claim that the party chairmen are divided over the issue as Oli wants to pick Subash Chandra Nemwang, who is also a former Constituent Assembly Chairman, and another party chairman Dahal is in favor of Agni Prasad Sapkota, who belongs to the erstwhile Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

On the other hand, Deputy Speaker Dr. Shivamaya Tumbahamphe, who, too, has staked a claim for the post, has categorically said she would not step down unless the leadership assured her of the top post. Without her resignation, the House cannot begin the process of electing a new Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker must step down to be elected Speaker to be eligible to file her nomination for the post, according to the constitutional provision. Therefore, her resignation is a must.

The ruling NCP had kept both the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker notwithstanding the constitutional provision that these posts should not go to a single party.

However, during the time of their (Mahara and Tumbahamphe) appointment, they belonged to two different parties with the then Speaker Mahara from the erstwhile Maoist party and Tumbahamphe from the then CPN-UML. The two parties later unified to form the Nepal Communist Party.

However, party Chairmen Oli and Dahal seem to be adamant to their respective stance of picking a new Speaker rather than giving the position to Tumbahamphe.

Party sources claimed that PM Oli is planning to give a ‘final blow’ to Dahal that would give way to him to pick his ‘desired’ candidate. The source, however, did not elaborate.

Meanwhile, the issue of seeking Tumbahamphe’s resignation by the party Secretariat came after Dahal discussed the issue with PM Oli on Saturday.

NCP General Secretary Poudel, meanwhile, said he was confident that a solution would be found soon, although the task was not easy. “It has to be done soon,” he said adding both the chairmen are in favor of resolving this issue, which has become thorny of late.

Meanwhile, a party source said that the issue has, of course, become quite a challenge. “We do not, under no circumstances, want a crisis with the HoR,” he said.

Meanwhile, NCP Chief Whip Dev Gurung fears of a ‘constitutional crisis’ as the issue is getting tricky.

He emphasizes the need to resolve the issue at the earliest through constitutional means to avoid any unfortunate situation, which could lead to a deadlock.

Gurung views that the party can neither compel nor issue directives or a whip to the Deputy Speaker asking her to step down. “This will exacerbate the situation further.”

The situation seems to be getting complicated if Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba’s voice is to be considered. “The ruling party cannot hold the Parliament hostage,” he has said.

Deuba, also the former Prime Minister, asserted that his party would field its candidate for the Speaker if the ruling NCP fails to pick from its party at the earliest.