The President´s Office, upon recommendation by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, wrote to the Parliament Secretariat about the summoning of the budget session. [break]
A few hours after the Parliament Secretariat issued notice of the session, the main opposition Maoist party, at its standing committee meeting, decided to disrupt parliamentary proceedings during the budget session.
“Instead of stepping down for the sake of national consensus, the government has taken a confrontational path by summoning the budget session. We will not let the House run its business,” said Maoist Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha after the meeting.
The Maoist party has demanded that the prime minister resign as per the “gentleman´s agreement” reached with the ruling parties just ahead of the Constituent Assembly (CA) term extension on May 28.
President Yadav will present the government´s policies and programs within a couple of days after his letter is read out at a meeting of parliament on July 5.
A Vote of Thanks must be passed by a majority of parliament after the president presents the government´s policies and programs and before the annual budget is tabled in the House by July 16 at the latest.
If the government fails to garner a majority to pass the Vote of Thanks, the prime minister can no longer morally continue in office.
Though the incumbent government commands a simple majority in parliament, Maoist obstruction in the House can obviously create a serious problem for passing the budget.
"There is a grave problem as the main opposition party has not given its green signal but the session has been summoned as it cannot be delayed further," Bhim Acharya, chief whip of the ruling CPN-UML, told myrepublica.com. He said there is no option but to intensify talks with the Maoists and to forge a consensus.
Last year, the annual budget was passed on November 25 due to a months-long obstruction of parliament by the Maoists. Budget passage became possible only after all but two lawmakers of the main opposition Maoist party -- Ek Raj Bhandari and Padam Lal Bishwakarma -- stayed away from parliament.
"But this time we will not repeat the same method as last year," Maoist chief whip Post Bahadur Bogati said.
Due to failure to pass the budget for five months, the government faced a serious financial crisis last year.
The government became unable to provide funds even as government hospitals, prisons and other entities ran out of money and it stopped providing essential services to people. For the same reason it had to withhold the salaries of ministers, lawmakers, Nepal Army and police personnel and government employees.
The Maoist party has 238 seats in parliament, which has 599 active members.
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