Kathmandu, June 14: The Parliament meeting, which had been obstructed for almost three weeks, resumed on Friday despite protests from opposition parties demanding the resignation of Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak.

Amidst protest, Speaker Devraj Ghimire allowed Home Minister Lekhak to address the House on Friday, June 13.

MPs from the Rastriya Swatantra Party, the Ekikrit Samajwadi Party, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party were protesting during the Parliament meeting.

On Thursday, the ruling party and the Maoist Party endorsed a two-point agreement for investigating the visit visa scandal. The Maoist Center, which was taking a stance for the resignation of Minister Lekhak, gave up this demand paving the way for resuming House meetings.

After bagging support from the Maoist Center, the main opposition party in Parliament, the government forcefully resumed the House meeting. The next meeting is called for Sunday.

Why did the Maoist Center change its stance?

The main opposition party, Maoist Center suddenly left an alliance with the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) taking the government’s side.

Political observers believe that since the Supreme Court allowed move forward the murder case against Agni Sapkota, a senior Maoist leader, its chairman Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda is seeking the support of the government. Therefore, a give-and-take agreement could have taken place on the visit visa scandal and Agni Sapkota.

Moreover, the RSP has become a threat to the existing political parties and a serious threat to the Maoist Center. In the last general election, Prachanda had to quit his electoral constituency in Chitwan and contested the election from a constituency in Gorkha. Therefore, weakening the new political force RSP has become obvious for the major three parties, NC, UML and Maoist Center. This could be another reason for the Maoist Center to support the ruling alliance on the visit visa issue.

People’s News Monitoring Service.