House meet put off over parties' recommendation

Update II

KATHMANDU, May 24: Parliamentary Business Advisory Committee (PBAC) postponed a meeting of the Legislature Parliament on Monday as per the recommendation made by the major three parties--Unified CPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and UML.



PBAC also suspended a clause on bill amendment due to time constraints. The government had registered a constitution amendment bill at the parliament secretariat on May 17, proposing an extension of the Constituent Assembly (CA) term by a year.[break]



A meeting of the three parties at Everest Hotel on Monday had asked the CA chair to postpone the House meeting scheduled for Monday.



The House meeting was expected to hold discussions and voting on the CA term extension bill.



Our earlier news:     A meeting of Unified CPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and UML at Everest Hotel on Monday decided to ask the CA chair to remove discussion and voting sessions on the CA term extension bill from Monday´s House business, Nepali Congress leader Ram Chandra Paudel said.



The main opposition, Unified CPN (Maoist), on Sunday registered a notice of disapproval against the government´s decision to table the bill for extension of CA term.



The government has to defeat the Maoist notice by a simple majority to take the proposal to extend the CA deadline -- that expires on May 28 -- ahead. The government also has to prove majority in favor of the government bill that has proposed one-year extension of the CA term.



The meeting also decided to call off Monday´s House session.



UML chief whip Bhim Acharya said with Republica that a meeting of Business Advisory Committee of the parliament would hold a meeting later today to postpone the parliament meeting on Monday by issuing a notice.



Leaders in the meeting also stress on consensus rather than voting procedure to deal with CA term extension.



The Maoist leaders walked away in the middle of the meeting saying that they were busy in their ongoing Central Working Committee meeting. It has been also learnt that the ruling allies stressed on a ´package deal´ to end the political impasse in the meeting.



However, the leaders have agreed to sit for talks on Tuesday.



Meanwhile, Nepali Congress and UML leaders held a meeting at the Prime Minister´s Office on Monday morning.





Related news: Maoists register disapproval notice



                           Bill to extend CA term registered

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National Assembly approves recommendation to withdraw bill