KATHMANDU: The government has registered a bill related to citizenship in the Parliament Secretariat. The government had earlier withdrawn the citizenship bill tabled in the House of Representatives.

With the registration of the  Bill, Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand and Law Minister Govinda Prasad Sharma Koirala have intensified the lobbying in favor of the bill and visited leaders of major political parties.

Home Minister Khand had tabled the proposal to withdraw the Citizenship Bill from the House of Representatives on Friday.

The bill was withdrawn by a majority of the ruling party. The government’s proposal was opposed by the main opposition party, the CPN-UML.

Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota had announced that the proposal to withdraw the bill was passed by a majority amid UML protests. The bill registered in the Secretariat of the House of Representatives on August 7, 2018 was returned after four years of discussion.

The bill was passed by the CPN-UML with a majority from the State Management Committee of the Parliament, while the Nepali Congress and others had different views. At the same time, the status of this bill was zero.

As soon as the bill was withdrawn, the cabinet meeting on Friday decided to re-register it. Home Minister Bal Krishna Khan and Law Minister Govind Sharma Koirala are in talks with top party leaders to reach a consensus on the bill.

On Sunday, they met UML parliamentary party deputy leader Subash Nembang. They met the CPN-Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Monday morning.

The government is preparing to pass the bill in the same convention.

As elections to the House of Representatives and state assemblies are to be held in November, the ruling party has started discussions to pass the bill before announcing the date of the election.

In the meantime, Maoist Center leader Narayankaji Shrestha, on his social media message, has objected to the proposed new Bill.