When Nepal reached the PP office in Singha Durbar at 7:55 a.m., barely four to five lawmakers had showed up. The UML lawmakers have come down heavily upon the finance minister for failing to allocate sufficient budget to their constituencies. Unsatisfied with Finance Minister Surendra Pandey´s reply, the UML lawmakers have sought clarification from the prime minister himself.
As the meeting could not formally begin in the absence of lawmakers, Prime Minister Nepal killed almost half-an-hour having a tête-à-tête with those who had reached the PP office. When some lawmakers reached the office at about 8:30 a.m., he enquired them about their concern about budget allocation. More parliamentarians showed up at about 9 a.m. But, the prime minister had run out of time by then.
The prime minister then rushed to attend a program at Bir Hospital. He was scheduled to attend the function at 9.00 a.m. "He left the office because he only had 45 minutes for the PP meeting," said Prithivi Subba Gurung, adding, "Hence, we decided to resume the meeting when he would have more time to discuss the issues extensively."
According to UML lawmaker Bishnu Rimal, the meeting could not begin formally as the lawmakers failed to show up at the office on time. "The prime minister talked to the lawmakers but the conversations were informal," Rimal said.
Some lawmakers who were hanging around the office after the prime minister´s exit told myrepublica.com that most of them could not make it to the office on time due to heavy downpour in the morning. The meeting was planned to discuss the budget so that the party would be able to take a common stand before the deliberation in the parliament.
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