While proroguing the winter session on June 3, the prime minister and the speaker had reached an understanding to summon the budget session by Tuesday. The president summons a parliamentary session as per the recommendation of the prime minister. [break]
"In a new development, the government was preparing to summon parliament by Thursday. But the prime minister phoned me this afternoon [Monday] and said he needed some more days as he was planning to consult leaders from political parties over the matter," Nembang said. With this latest development, the date for the start the budget session has become uncertain.
The prime minister´s chief political advisor, Raghuji Pant, said PM Nepal has begun the consultations.
The budget session was planned to start by this week so as to ensure sufficient time for pre-budget discussions, which could not take place in the two previous years due to parliament obstruction by opposition parties. The notion of pre-budget discussions is meant for parliament to suggest to the government priorities and principles in the new budget.
According to officials at the parliament secretariat, the budget session needs to start by June 17 at the latest, in order to hold pre-budget discussions and pass the budget on time through due process. The budget is generally presented by around July 10.
While parliament has very limited time left for budget preparations, the major political parties are in deep division over ending the protracted political deadlock.
At the time of reaching an agreement on extending the Constituent Assembly term, the ruling and main opposition parties inked a three-point pact. As per the deal, they had agreed on the resignation of the prime minister.
Divisions among the major parties have widened as the leaders have interpreted the deal as per their own convenience. The Maoists have accused the prime minister of dillydallying over stepping down, through a misinterpretation of the spirit of the agreement, while the ruling parties have accused the Maoists of not complying with past agreements to transform themselves into a civilian party.
Pradip Gyawali, spokesperson of the ruling CPN-UML, thinks that following the three-point deal, the incumbent government has practically become a caretaker government and it shouldn´t be prolonged.
The Maoists, who have objected to the prorogation of the winter session amidst their boycott, have announced protests in parliament at the beginning of the new session.
There is very little chance of the Maoists allowing the incumbent government to present its policy and programs followed by the annual budget.
"The present scenario indicates that we are again heading toward a serious crisis," Gyawali said.
Last year the country faced a serious financial crisis as the budget was passed only on November 25 due to months-long obstruction of parliament by the Maoists.
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