Deputy Prime Ministers Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar on Friday evening called on the president to tell him that the government does not want any confrontation over the issue of ordinances. Shrestha had also met the president on Thursday. [break]
According to Shrestha, the government avoided taking any decision on ordinances on Thursday and postponed the cabinet meeting scheduled for Friday, concluding that the president should first be taken into confidence before recommending any ordinances.
"The cabinet meeting on Thursday refrained form taking a decision on recommending ordinances to the president after a joint effort of Deputy Prime Minister and myself. Similarly the Friday´s meeting was also called off as we could not meet the president before the cabinet meeting," Shrestha told Republica about the government initiatives to avoid confrontation.
Shrestha said the government would consult the president before recommending ordinances for promulgation. He said that the government does not want to recommend a "flood" of ordinances to the president but wants to recommend only three urgent ordinances. The urgent ordinances, according to Shrestha, relates to appointment in constitutional bodies, division of works of new ministries and transitional justice mechanisms.
But the president asked the deputy prime ministers to concentrate on the political problems and to find solutions to them, according to Rajendra Dahal, president´s press advisor.
According to sources, the government had also sent Mahantha Thakur, Chairman of the Tarai Madhesh Democratic Party to convince the president to help the government introduce new ordinances.
The government´s efforts to bring the president on board comes a week after the president rejected two election-related ordinances, terming them irrelevant following the cancellation of the November 22 election. The decision has invited confrontation between the president and the government.
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