The opposition parties, along with Madhesi parties which had supported the incumbent government in the floor test, have registered amendments to the policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year.

Lawmakers from the Nepali Congress, the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal, the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal and the Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party have registered six different amendments to the government’s economic document that sets the foundation for the budget for the next fiscal year. The main opposition Congress has sought an amendment to the document for not addressing the members of the federal parliament.

While presenting the policies and programmes on Monday, President Bidya Devi Bhandari had addressed Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chairman of the National Assembly but did not mention about the lawmakers. The SSF-N too has raised the similar concern.

NC Chief Whip Bal Krishna Khand said instead of focusing on the next one year, the document mentioned about five-year and 10-year projects. “It sounds more like a party manifesto than policies and programmes,” Khand told the Post. He also claimed the government had deviated from its election commitment—to construct railway within five years in the policy paper which just mentions about the beginning of the construction in the period.

Both NC and SSF-N have said the document fails to embrace the spirit of federalism, laying more emphasis on the centralisation instead. The two Madhesi parties have also sought amendment seeking to include a clause that the government is open for amendment to the constitution as demanded by the Madhesi people. “The policies and programmes have failed to address our concerns. We want a line that mentions about the amendment on it,” said RJP-N leader Anil Jha, who registered the amendment. The three-day discussion on the document along with the proposed amendments begins on Wednesday.