Ruling coalition decides to bring budget ordinance by mid-November

A meeting of ruling coalition on Wednesday has decided to bring the government's annual budget through an ordinance by mid-November, regardless of how talks with opposition parties fare.

Leaders of the Maoist-led ruling coalition meet at Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai's...

Leaders of the UCPN (M) and Madheshi Morcha, who met at the Prime Minister's residence in Baluwatar, also assigned coalition chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal to hold 'decisive' talks with opposition parties from Thursday, coalition Spokesperson Prem Bahadur Singh told mediapersons. He added the coalition has expressed concern over the delay in the full-fledged budget and vacancies in key constitutional bodies.

"There is no point in holding talks for the sake of talks. We need to sit for decisive talks now," said Singh.

The meeting comes as the government, which is was forced to bring a partial budget amid stiff resistance from the opposition, is set to run out of money. Leaders in government have been stating that the opposition is using the budget as a bargain chip to force PM Baburam Bhattarai out of power.

Madhesi leader Jitendra Dev, who left the meeting before it was over, said leaders suggested that Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai induct more ministers to his Cabinet if the decisive talks with the opposition does not yield results. However, coalition Spokesperson Singh said no such proposal was tabled at the meeting. Dev said ruling parties have agreed to organise mass meetings, which were eralier called off, in various places to make the public aware about the alliance stance on the current crisis.

The alliance is to meet on Friday to take stock of talks with the opposition, said Singh. nepalnews.com