Top leaders of the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and the Rastriya Janasakti Party met the president at his office and made the call after learning that the Maoist-led government was reportedly preparing to introduce a "special budget". [break]
"We told the president that they would not accept a budget that exceeds one-third of the actual expenditure of the current fiscal year," said Dr Prakash Chandra Lohani, co-chairman of the Rastriya Janasakti Party, who was present during the meeting. "There is no constitutional provision for introducing a special budget," he added.
Though the ruling and opposition parties agreed on Tuesday to introduce only a partial budget, they differ on the amounts involved.
While the ruling parties have argued that the government should be allowed to introduce a special budget to meet the expenses to be incurred in holding the November 22 election and in integrating the ex-Maoist combatants, the opposition parties have maintained that in the absence of a parliament the caretaker government can only introduce a budget not exceeding one-third of the actual expenditures of the current fiscal year.
During Tuesday´s meeting, the ruling parties had sought opposition support for a special budget through the invoking of a constitutional provision on removing difficulties. But the opposition parties had rejected the idea.
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