Scuffle in Nepal parliament as ruling party bundles opposition

House Speaker Debraj Ghimire on Tuesday ordered marshals to escort Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', who went through the well of the parliament, where opposition lawmakers continued their aggressive protests for weeks.

House Speaker Debraj Ghimire on Tuesday ordered marshals to escort Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', who went through the well of the parliament, where opposition lawmakers continued their aggressive protests for weeks. On Monday's vote of confidence as well, Speaker Ghimire had ordered marshals to escort Prime Minister and proceeded with the procedure of bundling the protesting opposition lawmakers.

Opposition lawmakers on Tuesday had attempted to prevent the Prime Minister from getting across the well, which invited the scuffle. In the recording from the parliament secretariat, the opposition lawmakers are seen attempting to block the way for the Prime Minister to cross the well and reach the rostrum.

Opposition Nepal Congress has continued to protest in parliament, demanding the formation of a parliamentary committee to probe the alleged misappropriation of the cooperative funds by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Rabi Lamichhane. It has announced not to let the parliament proceed with its schedule anytime soon until the committee is formed with an agreement regarding its Terms of Reference.

"We are adamant on our demands, we are determined to deliver justice to thousands of people who have been scammed by the co-operatives. We want to assure all those who have been inflicted with the fraud that our fight would never end until and unless those savers get their savings back," Badri Prasad Pandey, a lawmaker from the Nepali Congress, said on Tuesday's meeting. Home Minister Lamichhane is accused of embezzling large funds of the cooperative when he was the managing director of the Gorkha Media and other people have also been accused of their involvement in such misappropriations.

Earlier on May 16 as well, the lawmakers between the opposition and ruling alliance had scuffled in parliament over the issue. The main opposition has been obstructing the budget session of the parliament since the first day of the session that commenced on May 10. However, the opposition parties had allowed the President to table policies and programmes of the government.

Home Minister Lamichhane has been accused of fraud in a cooperative duping millions of rupees of savers conspiring with others. Lamichhane has been denying the allegation, stating he was unaware of it but evidence of his involvement in the fraud has come forward, with investigation continuing. Lamichhane had earlier worked with GB Rai, one of the conspirators in the fraud of millions of rupees, before he entered politics in the last election, who, as of now, has gone underground with police searching for him.

An investigative report conducted by Pokhara Metropolis over the alleged fraud in the cooperative has just been completed this week and submitted to the police, where hundreds of applications naming Lamichhane as one of those involved in fraud have been filed. Home Minister Lamichhane has been accused of misusing his authority to transfer top-positioned police personnel who have been investigating the case.

Along with this, he has been blamed for misuse of authority by coercing and forcing the Office of the Attorney General to give him a clean-chit on the issue of cooperative fraud. (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)