RSP general secretary Acharya's parliament satire aimed at PM

Bipin Kumar Acharya, general secretary of the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party, made a satirical remark in the House of Representatives, saying he too was trying to become "extraordinary." Speaking during the House's zero hour on Thursday, he described himself as an engineer of average ability. He said that anyone skilled in any field, in terms of ability, intent and facts, would naturally seem extraordinary to him.

The day before, on Wednesday, Prime Minister Balen Shah had held discussions with lawmakers with engineering backgrounds at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. During that discussion, the prime minister had addressed the engineer-lawmakers as "extraordinary MPs." Acharya, however, did not name the prime minister while speaking in parliament, nor did he mention Wednesday's discussion. Disagreement has recently emerged within the ruling party itself over the prime minister's working style and decisions.

In the same remarks, Acharya proposed that the Nepali rupee should have its own distinct symbol. Noting that the dollar, euro, pound, yen and the Indian currency all have their own symbols, he said Nepal still uses "Rs" and the English abbreviation "NPR." He argued that a separate Unicode symbol would make many tasks easier in the era of global financial technology.