The Nepali Congress and the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal have decided to join hands to strengthen their voice against the government in the federal parliament. The two opposition parties said they decided to work together in an attempt to put pressure on the KP Sharma Oli government to address their concerns.

The RJP-N has been demanding that the government publicise the study report on the cases of violence that transpired during the 2015 Tarai protests in the run-up to the constitution promulgation.

Despite the ruling from Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the government has not released the report prepared by a high level commission led by Girish Chandra Lal, former Supreme Court justice.

The government has also not paid any heed to the opposition’s demand to form a parliamentary panel to investigate the “suspicious” deaths of Kumar Paudel, district chief of the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal, and Saroj Narayan Mahato, a Sarlahi resident.

The opposition lawmakers have already obstructed the House proceedings twice demanding a parliamentary inquiry into these deaths. The government, however, has refused to form a parliamentary panel, arguing that it would set a precedent leading to a situation where parliamentary probe could be demanded for all such deaths.

The opposition lawmakers are not buying the argument. Paudel and Mahato, according to them, were victims of extrajudicial killings and those responsible must be brought to justice.

“The government is becoming autocratic. We will jointly raise our voice against it,” Bal Krishna Khand, Congress chief whip, told reporters on Friday.

He said the two parties will continue to obstruct the House proceedings unless a parliamentary committee is formed to investigate the deaths of Paudel and Mahato.

“We will boycott Parliament as a last resort if our concerns are not addressed,” Khand said.The opposition lawmakers have also taken exception to the way Speaker Mahara has been conducting the House amid their protest.

Though the House proceedings are considered disrupted even if a single lawmaker stands from his/her seat, Speaker Mahara on Wednesday had pushed through four bills related to the national budget even when the opposition lawmakers were picketing the well of Parliament.

Anil Jha, a member of the presidium of the RJP-N, said his party agreed to stand together with the NC against a series of autocratic moves made by the incumbent government.

“The more united we are, the stronger our voice will be,” Jha told the Post. “This is an issue-based alliance which might go longer until two parties have a common goal.”

The regional party had supported Oli during prime ministerial election last year on the condition that the new government would work to amend the constitution.

But with no sign form the Oli administration towards revision in the statute, the party in March withdrew its support.