House can’t declare the nation a republic: Poudel

At a time when the Speaker of the Interim Legislature Parliament is saying that the House can declare the nation a republic if eight-parties agree on it, a senior minister of the government has claimed that the House has no authority to declare the republic.

Minister for Peace and Reconstruction of the interim government Ram Chandra Poudel on Friday said that the Interim Legislature-Parliament didn’t have any authority to declare the nation a rebublic.

Talking to media persons in Nepalgunj, Poudel argued that since it had already been agreed to allow the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) decide on the fate of monarchy, a house declaration of republic ahead of the CA meeting was not possible.

"The interim parliament does not have the authority to declare republic … opting for yet another alternative -- once a procedure to decide monarchy's fate is already selected – will make it lose its credibility and legality," Poudel said.