After weeks-long uncertainty following parliamentary obstruction and negotiations to open it, the ruling and opposition parties on Saturday agreed to form a parliamentary panel to probe the cooperative scam.

The main opposition Nepali Congress had been obstructing the House since last month demanding a parliamentary probe into Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Lamichhane’s alleged involvement in the cooperatives scam.

Lamichhane’s name has been linked with several cooperatives based in Pokhara, Butwal and Chitwan. According to reports, he had taken millions of rupees from the three cooperatives.

A meeting of the ruling and opposition parties held at the prime minister’s residence on Saturday evening agreed to form such a parliamentary probe panel whose terms of reference could be finalised on Sunday, according to the leaders present at the meeting.

With this development, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s plan to take a vote of confidence on Monday will go ahead smoothly, said leaders. The formation of the parliamentary panel and understanding on the terms of reference will also pave the way for the resumption of the parliamentary proceedings and unveiling of the government’s annual budget on May 28.

The meetings of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly will resume from Sunday, Padam Giri, the minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs, told the Post.

According to Giri, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Rabi Lamichhane, who was demanding time to speak in the House and clarify his position on the allegations against him in the cooperatives scam, will speak at Sunday’s House meeting.

Nepali Congress, which was preventing the home minister from speaking in the House, agreed to let Lamichhane speak and clarify his position on his alleged role in the cooperative funds embezzlement.

According to a Congress leader, the name of Home Minister Lamichhane will not be mentioned in the ToR but the names of the cooperatives where he allegedly embezzled deposits will be stated. The party had been demanding a probe focused on Lamichhane.

“We took this decision at the prime minister’s repeated requests in order to break the prolonged House deadlock. This will help with the tabling of various bills and in bringing the budget. Most importantly, this will foil [CPN-UML chair] Oli’s plan to dissolve the House and take the country into midterm polls,” the Congress leader said.

“That is why we showed flexibility. The ToR of the proposed task force will now include the names of the cooperatives whose funds were embezzled by Lamichhane and his partners when he ran a television company,” said the leader.

Though the Congress and other opposition parties had been demanding a parliamentary panel, the key ruling parties, the UML and the Rastriya Swatantra Party, were strongly against it.

Ramesh Lekhak, chief whip of the Nepali Congress, said the meeting of the top leaders of the major political parties discussed the resumption of the House and a breakthrough was eventually made.

“Now we all agree on the parliamentary committee’s formation. This is a positive development ... The law minister will coordinate the task force,” Lekhak said after the meeting.

Leaders of ruling and opposition parties decided to form a four-member task force to prepare the ToR of the parliamentary committee. Jeevan Pariyar from the Congress, Minister Padam Giri from the UML, the party’s chief whip Mahesh Bartaula, and Shisir Khanal from the Rastriya Swatantra Party are its members, according to Lekhak.

“We will try our best to conclude the ToR by Sunday evening when the task force convenes its first meeting,” Khanal told the Post.

Giri represents the government, while three other leaders represent ruling and opposition parties. But there is no representation from CPN (Maoist Centre), the prime minister’s party.

“I have called the first meeting of the taskforce at 8:00 am on Sunday. I am trying to finalise the TOR tomorrow itself,” Giri told the Post.

Attending the Saturday meeting, which came at the initiative of Prime Minister Dahal, were Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, UML chair KP Sharma Oli, Home Minister Lamichhane and second-rung leaders of various parties.

On Saturday, Speaker Devraj Ghimire had advised Prime Minister Dahal and UML’s Oli to reach an agreement with the Congress by Sunday afternoon.

“If the House session does not resume by Sunday, the government will be forced to bring the budget through an ordinance,” Ghimire had said at a function earlier on Saturday. “So I have urged the top leaders to come to a conclusion at the earliest.”

Ghimire has called the House meeting for 11:00 am on Sunday. “We will try to draft the ToR before the House meeting,” said Lekhak.

On Saturday morning, Prime Minister Dahal met Congress leaders and later Speaker Ghimire, Oli and Lamichhane.

Hundreds of cooperatives across the country are in trouble and some three dozen large ones have been declared as crisis-ridden. Cooperative owners and management have embezzled billions of rupees deposited by millions of people.

The government has been under constant pressure to heed the demands of the protesting victims of cooperatives fraud from around the country.