By Our Reporter

After obstructing the meetings of the House of Representatives for 18 days, the main opposition party—the CPN (Maoist Centre) agreed to resume the House proceeding by inking a two-point deal on Friday last week.

With the inking of the deal, the business of the Lower House resumed on Friday itself. Likewise, with the agreement, Home Minister Lekhak did not have to resign. The Maoist Centre and other opposition parties were demanding Lekhak's resignation over the visit visa scam and formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate the scam.

However, two other opposition parties—Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) have been obstructing the House demanding the resignation of Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak.

The meeting of the Lower House had to be adjourned for two days on Tuesday after the RSP lawmakers protested in parliament putting forth the same demand.

The deal signed by ruling and the main opposition parties has divided the opposition parties.

The two-point agreement pledged the government’s cooperation with the ongoing investigation by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) and committed to formulating new policies to curb human trafficking under the guise of visit visas.

When the Maoist Centre entered into dialogue and agreement with the ruling coalition, the RSP and RPP refused to allow the session to run smoothly.

However, both Maoist Centre chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli have drawn criticism for inking the deal.  It is said that Dahal agreed to resume the House when PM Oli assured the former not to proceed with the court case against Maoist leader Agni Sapkota.

While Dahal drew criticism from the two opposition parties and from within his party, Oli was criticised by the victims and those who supported victims.

They have termed the deal as a 'Give and Take' agreement between Oli and Dahal.

The Supreme Court has recently allowed police to proceed with the investigation in the murder case of Arjun Lama of Sindhupalchowk. Maoist Centre vice-chair Agni Sapkota and party lawmaker Surya Man Dong were accused of abducting and killing Lama in April 2005. 

A few days ago, after issuing a verdict in the decade-old case, the top court directed the police to carry out an investigation against six people including Sapkota and Dong.

Oli and Dahal made the case a bargaining issue and inked the two-point deal on Friday last week.