Nepal PM acknowledges mistakes regarding controversial remarks as opposition ends house protest
Jul 10, 2023
Kathmandu [Nepal], July 10 : Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Monday acknowledged making a mistake while delivering a speech that landed him in controversy as he addressed the parliament after the opposition ends the deadlock.
Dahal acknowledged the mistake while making controversial remarks during a book launch on July 2. Addressing the parliament, he pledged to exercise greater caution while expressing personal emotions.
"You all know that I am a bit emotional and a sentimental person; this is what Prachanda is. I got fluctuated in emotion and I should not have made that statement, that statement wasn't that important for me to say it. It clicked me and I said it," Dahal said while addressing the parliament today.
The main opposition party, CPN-UML, disrupted the House of Representatives for three days, demanding the Prime Minister's resignation over the aforementioned controversial remarks on Sardar Pritam Singh, a trucking entrepreneur in Nepal.
Earlier on Monday morning, Prime Minister Dahal, CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli, and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba convened at Singha Durbar to discuss the removal of the parliamentary obstruction.
On July 2, Dahal, while addressing a function to launch the book 'Roads to the Valley: The Legacy of Sardar Pritam Singh in Nepal', had said, "He [Singh] had once made efforts to make me the prime minister. He reached Delhi several times and held multiple rounds of talks with politicians in Kathmandu to make me the prime minister."
During a book launch event in Kathmandu last Monday, Dahal had said that Sardar Pritam Singh had repeatedly visited Delhi to make him prime minister.
The main opposition CPN-UML had then obstructed Parliament proceedings demanding Dahal's resignation over his controversial remark. Rastriya Swatantra Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party had also joined in the protest.
The House meeting finally resumed on Monday afternoon after the top leaders of the three major parties -- PM and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli -- agreed to end the obstruction and allow Dahal to clarify the matter in Parliament.
