Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli. (Reuters)After almost a week of protests by the Opposition, both inside parliament and in the public, Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara appears to have expunged all abusive and parliamentary remarks made by Prime Minister K P Oli against opposition parties.
Oli, in the course of his response to the debate over President Bidhya Devi Bhandari’s address to the joint session of parliament, had on May 7 ridiculed the Opposition using many “unparliamentary” and “abusive” words. However, Speaker Mahara had turned a deaf ear to the Oppn demand that such remarks be expunged. Opposition leaders had referred to the Speaker as a “coward” and weak person.
However, the parliamentary secretariat confirmed a week later that all remarks had been expunged upon the instruction of the Speaker on Thursday — the day Oli left the country for a state visit of Vietnam and Cambodia. “Oli has lowered the reputation of the House by using language that was abusive and uncharitable,” said leader of the Nepali Congress Prakashman Singh.
Members of the ruling party had solidly backed Oli and endorsed his comments against the Opposition, saying “the other side” deserved it.
