Lawmaker Rana Opposes VIPs' Unlimited Speaking Time in Parliament

Nepali Congress leader and member of the House of Representatives, Udaya Shumsher Janga Bahadur Rana has said it is high time to make revisions to the practice of giving unlimited speaking time to the former Prime Ministers, the leader of the main opposition party and former Speaker, among the VIPs, in the parliament.

Talking to RSS, he said the parliamentary process gets unnecessarily long and tedious also due to the tradition of lawmakers of all parties representing in the parliament and the independent lawmakers having to make statements whenever there is any pertinent topic being deliberated in parliament.

"Sometimes, the long parliamentary process feels tedious and boring, but the bills which are passed following the same process and extensive discussions are rich content-wise and sustainable," he contended.

By suggesting to cut short the parliamentary process, I do not mean adopting 'short-cut' way as such, but the time has come to rethink about this practice, he added.

He was elected to the Member of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Federal Parliament, from Lalitpur, Constituency no 1.

Lawmaker Rana said that the Parliament has not been able to carry out the expected works, as the opposition parties have obstructed the parliament's business even over petty issues.

"There are many opposition parties. The parliament proceedings have also been hampered when some parties and lawmakers have presented themselves in an irresponsible manner and immaturely," he said, adding that the House has not been able to carry out the expected works as the government also has not given it adequate business.

"There are many parties participating in the government as it is a coalition government. It takes time to introduce bills. Another thing is that there are also many parties in parliament," lawmaker Rana said.

A Master's degree holder from a US University, lawmaker Rana demanded thorough investigation into the various scams, irregularities and corruption cases that have come to light recently to find out the truth. He called on all the parties to be united in bringing to justice the culprits of these scams and corruption cases whoever they are.

He also stressed that all the political parties should rise above party interest and focus on making the country prosperous.

Expressing his objection to the Supreme Court's injunction suspending the parliamentarian's Constituency Infrastructure Development Programme, he commented that this injunction has restricted the legislature's right.

"The Supreme Court's order not to implement Constituency Infrastructure Development Programme, lawmaker Rana argued that he SC's order has curtailed legislative rights," he argued.

He mentioned, "We must participate in some development works to fulfill the commitments we had made before the people. It is connected somewhere in this existing system. It should not be taken unnatural. It is our responsibility to develop the respective constituency. But, all should be clear that it is should be transparent."

Rana further said, "The SC's decision is against the principles of separation of powers and checks and balance which interferes the rights lawmakers."

Born in Lalitpur in 2026 BS, he involved in active politics of the Nepali Congress from Nepal Student Union at the age of 19.

Also the central committee member of the NC, Rana had already served as member of the second Constituent Assembly and House of Representatives.

He expressed the view that the people's representatives have a great role to make the Parliament dignified as the Parliament is the supreme place of the people's representatives.

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