• Government could go for budget session directly 

Kathmandu, April 2

The government is preparing to skip the session of the Legislature-Parliament to be summoned for a brief period before the budget session despite the main opposition party’s demand for it.

The ruling parties want to put pressure on the main opposition Nepali Congress to resolve the issues of parliamentary regulations by delaying the House session, while the NC wants the House summoned at the earliest to use it as a forum to raise various national issues, including black-marketing and short supply of essentials.

As the ruling parties and main opposition clash over the provisions of parliamentary regulations, the government appears unwilling to call the House session before the budget session to exert pressure on the NC to resolve issues of regulations.

Chief Whip of NC Chinkaji Shrestha said the government is not interested in calling the Parliament session because it is afraid of criticism.

He accused the government of appointing party cadres in major positions of the government and constitutional bodies.

He also said the government was attempting to pass the bills through ordinance by delaying the Parliament session so as to make unilateral appointments, even that of justices.

He also said reconstruction and

rehabilitation works were affected besides endorsement of parliamentary regulations due to delay in the House session.

However, Deputy Leader of CPN-UML parliamentary party Subas Nembang said the government was not thinking of bringing ordinance. “I had recently talked with Law Minister Agni Kharel. He said the government is not preparing to bring ordinance but only the bills to be presented in the Parliament session,” Nembang said.

Nembang said once the Parliament Regulation is ready, parliament session will begin.

He claimed that calling Parliament session without regulation would only make the meetings of the Parliament a mess.

According to Speaker Onsari Gharti’s Secretariat, Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has informed through Law Minister Kharel that he will consult the Speaker regarding the new Parliament session.

According to the constitution, the fiscal budget should be tabled by May 28, and therefore, pre-budget discussions were required.

The Parliamentary Regulations Drafting Committee led by NC lawmaker Radheshyam Adhikari is preparing to finalise the regulation only on April 4. Since Speaker Onsari Gharti along with chief whips of major parties are preparing for a visit to Europe in the second week of April, the Parliament session will only begin after the third week.

The previous session of the Legislature Parliament was prorogued on February 17 after 139 days of commencement during which 44 meetings were held in 41 days.