National
Will continue push for amendments: PM
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has reiterated that he would continue to push for constitutional amendments.Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has reiterated that he would continue to push for constitutional amendments.
Deuba has been widely criticised for his remarks made during a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Thursday in New Delhi, where he expressed his commitment to amending the constitution in future.
Speaking at the Tribhuvan International Airport upon his arrival from New Delhi on Sunday evening, he defended his statement.
The main opposition CPN-UML and other political parties have criticised Deuba’s remarks saying that constitution amendment in an internal matter of Nepal and while it had been rejected by Parliament, the PM should not have raised the issue in a foreign land.
“Let’s set a benchmark for what we should speak in what country,” he said. “Otherwise, my statement is right. I have not made any mistake,” the PM argued. He also told journalists that he will face Parliament on the matter, adding that he was in favour of constitution amendment and that it would happen.
“I don’t know why my remark was unnecessarily hyped,” Deuba said. The statement on constitution amendment—not part of the prepared speech—was a planned idea, he added.
The PM said he had raised all the pressing bilateral issues with Indian officials, ranging from floods to implementation of the understandings reached in the past with India. The PM had left for the southern neighbour on Wednesday on a state visit.