Congress urges Speaker to summon PM Shah to Parliament

KATHMANDU:  The Nepali Congress has called on the Speaker of the House of Representatives to issue a ruling ensuring Prime Minister Balen Shah’s presence in Parliament, intensifying a political dispute over government accountability.

Speaking in today’s parliamentary session, Chief Whip Nishkal Rai of the Nepali Congress warned against what he described as “arrogance of numbers,” urging stronger parliamentary oversight over the government.

“We are trying to make the government accountable to Parliament, but neither the Speaker has supported us nor has the government complied,” Rai said in the House of Representatives.

He also referred to recent opposition protests inside the chamber, where lawmakers displayed placards demanding government accountability, arguing that such actions had been labelled “unparliamentary” by the Speaker.

Rai criticized the Speaker’s remarks on opposition conduct, pointing to past practices of ruling parties when they were in opposition.

“Those now in government once protested in similar ways—wearing symbolic scarves, occupying the well, sitting cross-legged, even reading books inside the chamber,” he said, adding that actions previously taken by today’s ruling side were now being judged differently.

Rai concluded that both past and present protest styles should be assessed under the same parliamentary standards, stressing consistency in what is considered acceptable legislative conduct.