The main opposition party, Nepali Congress (NC), has sought a response regarding Prime Minister Balendra Shah's leaving from the assembly hall while President Ram Chandra Paudel was addressing the joint sitting of the Federal Parliament on Monday.

Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal allocated the NC Chief Whip Basana Thapa time to speak at the outset of today's meeting of the House of Representatives after the MPs stood up from their seats.

Chief Whip Thapa said, "It is not a trivial matter but a serious issue that Prime Minister Shah left the House during the President's address; a clear response from the government is needed on this."

She also urged the Head of Government to respect the constitutional position and not to weaken the parliamentary tradition.

President Paudel had presented the government's policies and programs for the fiscal year 2083/84 in a joint meeting of both houses of the Federal Parliament on Monday.