One of the coalition partners CPN-UML has formed a three-member talks team to negotiate on disputed issues on budget with the Nepali Congress (NC).
The standing committee meeting of CPN-UML held at the Parliamentary Party Office in Singha Durbar today has formed the committee including former finance minister Surendra Pandey, Bishnu Paudel and Agni Kharel to discuss the disputed issues with another coalition partner in the incumbent government. The meeting has, expressing serious dissatisfaction over the budget, said that some good policies and programmes brought by the party in the past were removed from the budget. CPN-UML leaders have objected that the fiscal policy brought by the Nepali Congress has undervalued and excluded the names of its renowned leaders including Madan Bhandari, Pushpa Lal Shrestha and Man Mohan Adhikari, from the social reform programmes. They have also been claiming that the budget was brought unilaterally – ignoring the coalition partner – by the finance minister Mahat.
The committee led by Pandey will draw attention of Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat on the budget presented by Mahat on July 14.
Publicity department chief of the CPN-UML Yogesh Bhattarai, after the meeting, said that the CPN-UML will not vote in support of the budget in the parliament, if the finance minister did not correct the budgetary programmes.