The main opposition, Nepali Congress, has questioned the constitutional role and the impartiality of Speaker Devraj Ghimire following a scuffle between ruling and opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives.

After Thursday’s incident, relations between the ruling CPN-UML, the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the Rastriya Swatantra Party and the main opposition, Nepali Congress, could get more sour.

“The Speaker should take the main responsibility for today’s incident,” Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa said during a news conference after the scuffle between the opposition and ruling lawmakers. “The Speaker was following a leader’s order.”

Thapa hinted that the Speaker was guided by the ruling CPN-UML. Ghimire was elected to the House from Jhapa on a UML ticket. Though a lawmaker formally disassociates him/herself from the party, their independence in running the House is often questioned.

“Why did the Speaker take the House proceedings ahead forcefully when the main opposition was protesting?” Thapa said. “Whatever happened today in the House is unfortunate and the Speaker should bear the responsibility.”

He also hinted that UML chairman KP Sharma Oli had instigated Thursday’s tensions. While speaking at a function on Wednesday, Oli had stated that Thursday’s Parliament meeting would proceed despite obstruction by the Nepali Congress. “Today we saw that happen,” said Thapa. “This means the Speaker was taking orders from the leader [Oli].”

Thapa claimed that when his party’s vice-president, Dhanraj Gurung, was chanting slogans demanding a parliamentary probe, Oli approached and provoked him. Then the scuffle ensued, said Thapa.

Thapa also declared that the Congress will not sit for talks with anyone until a parliamentary committee is formed. Some Congress leaders were earlier in talks with their Rastriya Swatantra Party counterparts and had exchanged terms of reference of the proposed parliamentary committee, but there was no further development due to their differences.

Leaders said that Thursday’s scuffle has added to the uncertainty of the formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate the cooperatives scam and Lamichhane’s alleged involvement.

“We were about to agree on the terms of reference [ToR] of the proposed parliamentary committee with the Rastriya Swatantra Party,” said a Nepali Congress office bearer. “But there was a disagreement after the RSP refused to include the home minister’s name in the draft.”

The ToR proposed by the Congress explicitly called for probing the role of the home minister in the cooperatives scam. But the RSP has been insisting on a probe into the entire cooperatives sector and not Lamichhane.