The CPN-UML has decided not to let Parliament discuss the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli until the budget-related bills are put on the priority list of the House business.

Discussion on the no-trust motion registered by the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Centre) has been scheduled for Thursday.

The governing UML and the NC-Maoist alliance are at loggerheads over what should be discussed first in Parliament—no-trust motion against PM Oli or budget-related bills.

A Parliamentary Party meeting of the UML on Wednesday concluded that the House must discuss the budget-related bills first as they were incorporated as Parliament business long before the no-trust motion was registered and that altering the schedule “will mean going against parliamentary regulations and practices”.

The UML PP meet also decided to obstruct parliamentary proceedings until the budget-related bills are endorsed.

After Wednesday’s PP meeting of the UML, the party’s Deputy Parliamentary Party Leader and former Speaker Subas Chandra Nembang said that House proceedings “should move forward as per the parliamentary practices, regulations and constitution”.

According to a source privy to the development, the UML would support discussion on the no-confidence motion once the budget-related bills are endorsed.

NC, Maoists refuse to budge

KATHMANDU: The Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Centre) have insisted that the House should discuss the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli before the budget-related bills are endorsed. At a meeting at the NC Parliamentary Party office in Singha Durbar on Wednesday, both parties concluded that since Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar has already made a ruling on a work plan to discuss the no-trust motion, discussion on it should the priority.