Butwal, Nepal, October 5, 2020: Provincial assembly of the province 5 has been rescheduled for Tuesday to endorse the ‘controversial’ proposal to make Deukhuri of Dang district as the new capital of the province and name as Lumbini after lawmakers representing to the opposition parties including the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) obstructed the parliamentary proceedings on Monday.
The lawmakers representing the opposition parties not only obstructed the parliamentary proceedings by chanting slogans against of the government’s proposal to make Deukhuri of Dang as the capital of the province but also vandalized several tables and chairs to protest the decision.
Not only the lawmakers representing to the opposition parties but also the some lawmakers from the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) have also opposed the proposal. Some lawmakers from the ruling NCP have still been opposing the government’s proposal though they have not come up openly by defying the whip issued by the party to vote in favor of the proposal.
During a meeting of the NCP Parliamentary Party earlier on Monday, NCP Parliamentary Party Leader and Province 5 Chief Minister (CM) Shankar Pokhrel directed the lawmakers representing the party to cast their votes in favor of the proposal. It is said that he had directed the lawmakers even challenging that they would face music of disciplinary action if someone defied the government’s proposal.
Though about one and half dozen lawmakers from the ruling NCP had already submitted their note of dissident against of the proposal, they have not come up openly after the instruction issued by the CM Pokhrel.
It is expected that rescheduled meeting for Tuesday would ‘forcefully’ endorse the proposal to make Dang the new capital city of the province and name it as Lumbini despite protest from the lawmakers, civil society, business communities and others.
Internal Affairs Minister for the Province 5 Kul Prasad KC, who had tabled the proposal before the parliament last Friday, said while addressing the assembly meeting amid hullabaloo that the government would not backtrack on its decision to name Deukhuri of Dang district as the capital city and Lumbini as the name of the province.
As the proposal was tabled after taking consent from the party’s chairmen duo Pushpa Kamal Dahal and KP Sharma Oli, who is also the Prime Minister, it is likely that the proposal would be endorsed despite the protest even from the party’s rank and file.
There are 61 lawmakers from the ruling NCP out of 87 total lawmakers in the federal parliament. Constitutionally, there should be two third majorities to pass the proposal to fix permanent capital and to name of any provinces.
