The cabinet meeting held early Saturday decided to present the budget though an ordinance as the Maoists did not let the government do so on Friday.
An emergency meeting of the cabinet that concluded at 2am Saturday, decided to bring the budget through an ordinance. The Prime Minister met the president immediately after the meeting and handed over the
cabinet decision recommending him to prorogue the budget session. The meeting also decided to ask parliament to take action against those who manhandled the finance minister.
The budget will be presented in parliament at 4pm today. The ordinance has to be endorsed by the House within 60 days.
The budget has been delayed by four months already. After several rounds of political negotiations, the big political parties had agreed to present the budget on Friday. The UCPN (Maoist) changed its mind at the last minute and obstructed the finance minister from presenting the budget.
The Maoist CA members roughed up Finance Minister Surendra Pandey and other CA members when the minister was going to the dais to present the budget on Friday evening.
In a special editorial, the daily Kantipur has termed the Maoist act in parliament a ‘reflection of extremism’. Political leaders condemned the Maoists, but the latter have not expressed any regrets, and remain firm in their determination to block the budget.