Kathmandu, May 20

The third session of the Legislature Parliament will have the government’s policy and programme and  the new fiscal  budget as major agendas.

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has summoned the  third session of the Legislative Parliament on Monday.

Secretary of Parliament Secretariat Som Bahadur Thapa told THT that if everything goes according to plan, the president will read out the government’s policy and programmes in the Parliament  on May 26. Thapa said Parliament Secretariat officials had been working on the process for the president’s address on May 26.

The government will have to present a new budget on May 29 as per the constitutional provision.

“Another agenda of the new session will be constitution amendment, but discussion on the bill will depend on understanding between political parties,” Thapa said. He also said almost a dozen bills, including the local administration bill, health insurance bill, anti-torture bill, criminal code bill and civil code bill were under consideration, which could be put to vote during the session.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is preparing to hand over power to Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba is likely to address the House before resigning from his post. The new session of the Parliament will also elect a new government.

According to Prime Minister Dahal’s Political Adviser Chakrapani Khanal, the PM will resign on May 22 or 23. “But it will be finalised after having a conclusive meeting with the ruling partner Nepali Congress”, he added.

Nepali Congress leader and Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Ramesh Lekhak told THT that PM Dahal would resign  shortly after the new session of the House began and the Dahal-led caretaker government would present the policy and programme of the government and the new budget.

Some opposition parties including the CPN-UML have been saying that the government should not bring budget ahead of the second phase of elections as it could influence voters. The Election Commission, however, told the government that since the date for presentation of the budget has been stated in the constitution, the government was free to bring a new budget but that should be without new programmes.

The government is preparing to bring the budget without any new programme as advised by the EC.