The main opposition party, Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), on December 14 obstructed proceedings of both houses of the Parliament – the House of Representatives (HoR) and the National Assembly (NA) - over alleged bias of Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota against it and the Government's failure to end deadlock in the Parliament, reports The Himalayan Times. As soon as the speaker started House proceedings on the first day of the winter session, CPN-UML lawmakers swarmed the House well and began sloganeering. They have been protesting against Sapkota saying that he discriminated against the CPN-UML by refusing to confirm expulsion of 14 CPN-UML lawmakers of the rival faction led by Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanth Khanal. The rival faction split the CPN-UML and formed a new party Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Socialist (CPN-Unified Socialist) in August.