Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Friday said he will take the initiative to end the House obstruction by the main opposition party CPN-UML.

“I will take initiatives to end the ongoing Parliament’s impasse. We have to forge an agreement soon. I will make more efforts to reach an understanding with the leader of the main opposition party on resuming the House business,” Prime Minister Dahal told Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire.

During a meeting with Prime Minister Dahal at his residence in Baluwatar, Speaker Ghimire said the lawmakers have been deprived of airing their views on a legion of issues including natural disasters due to the obstruction.

“The House can’t resume its business without an agreement among the political parties. It has given a wrong message also to the general public,” Ghimire’s secretariat quoted him as saying to the prime minister.

Speaker Ghimire also informed the prime minister that the parliamentary committee heads could not be elected due to the prolonged obstruction.

A meeting of the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives scheduled for Thursday was postponed after lawmakers from the main opposition CPN-UML boycotted the meeting demanding the election of the committee’s chairperson.

Seven months since the first meeting of the House of Representatives, parliamentary committees are yet to get their chairpersons. The first meeting of the House of Representatives elected by the November 2022 vote was held on January 9 while the House committees were constituted two and a half months later on April 28. However, the committees, also called mini parliaments, are yet to get their leadership. This has adversely affected their performance.

“There is a complaint that Parliament has failed to formulate laws. I made repeated attempts to end the deadlock but in vain,” said Speaker Ghimire.

The UML has been continuously obstructing the lower and upper house proceedings since July 26 to press its demand for a high-level probe into the July 18 seizure of a large quantity of gold smuggled through Kathmandu airport. Before this, the party obstructed House proceedings for several days since July 10 to protest a controversial statement by Prime Minister Dahal.