'House will be called after consultations'

Himalayan News Service

KATHMANDU: Caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal today said the government would call the winter session of parliament after consulting political parties.

The government prorogued the ongoing budget session on November 19 when the main opposition, Unified CPN-Maoist, prevented the Finance Minister from presenting the budget estimates although the party leadership had agreed at a three-party meeting to let the government table it.

Talking to reporters at a function held to mark Nepal Sambat 1131 at Basantapur, Nepal said he would start discussions on convening the parliament session soon after the Maoists returned from the Palungtar plenum. “Let them (Maoist) come from the plenum,” said the PM, adding: “We will hold discussions with all the parties and fix the date of the parliament session.”

It may be recalled that Nepali Congress and CPN-UML bosses, Sushil Koirala and Jhala Nath Khanal had urged President Dr Ram Baran Yadav to immediately convene the House to elect a new government. Asked about the legitimacy of NC’s prime ministerial candidate Ramchandra Paudel, Nepal said the issue would be settled after discussing it with the parties. The NC and other parties say Paudel’s candidacy is still intact. UML chairman Khanal stressed the need to forge consensus on forming a unity government as the issue was related with the peace and constitution-drafting processes.