A meeting of the ruling coalition has reached a consensus to advance five of the six ordinances that are tabled in the parliament. The meeting, held on Saturday at the official residence of the Prime Minister in Baluwatar, agreed to move forward with the five ordinances.

The discussions focused on the ordinances, and according to one leader present at the meeting, there was also a phone conversation with Upendra Yadav, the chair of the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) Nepal. The support of the JSP-Nepal, which has three seats in the National Assembly has become crucial for the ruling coalition to pass the ordinances from the upper house.

“We have agreed to proceed with five ordinances. There was also a phone discussion with JSP-Nepal chair Upendra Yadav regarding the matter,” the leader said. “We will accept these five ordinances and continue discussions on the land-related ordinance.”

The government had proposed ordinances related to promoting good governance and public service delivery, cooperative laws, improving the economic and business environment, increasing investment, as well as amendments to laws regarding privatisation (first amendment) and fiscal responsibility (first amendment). The land-related ordinance had also been introduced.

Earlier, JSP-Nepal raised concerns over the intention behind the land-related ordinance, declaring it would not accept it. Rajkishore Yadav, the party’s first vice chair and the head of the ordinance review committee, stated that the land ordinance was not in the long-term interest of the country. He argued, “This ordinance seems to be intended to allocate land to land mafias and intermediaries, which will cause great harm to the country. Therefore, we cannot accept the land ordinance.”

Similarly, the Mahantha Thakur-led Loktantrik Samajbadi Party had also decided to oppose the ordinance claiming the provisions included in it were not in the best interest of the people. While the Thakur-led party has a minister in the federal Cabinet, Upendra Yadav’s party is not in the government despite giving the trust vote to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli when he sought trust vote in July.

Following the discussion on Saturday, the five ordinances will most likely be advanced in the Federal Parliament during its next session on Sunday.

The meeting was attended by Prime Minister and CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli, Nepali Congress President and former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Janata Samajbadi Party chair Ashok Kumar Rai, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party chair Mahantha Thakur, Nagarik Unmukti Party chair Ranjita Shrestha, and Janamat Party’s vice chair Abdul Khan, among others.

According to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, the meeting discussed the effectiveness of the government and Parliament’s business, along with various ordinances currently under consideration.