Amid growing tension over five recently-issued ordinances, resulting in a standoff between ruling and opposition parties, the government has decided to endorse them on a fast-track basis.

Opposition parties have decided to meet soon to chart out a strategy on how to engage in the upcoming parliamentary session.

A Cabinet meeting on Tuesday decided to endorse the ordinances on a fast-track basis, said Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung.

In order to implement those ordinances, the government and relevant ministries are working to draft regulations in line with the ordinances, he said.

Recently, the government had amended 29 laws and brought five ordinances to address concerns raised by the general public, service seekers, investors and other stakeholders. Large sections of the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-UML are defending the ordinances, while the opposition parties, mainly the CPN (Maoist Centre), oppose them.

The upcoming winter session of Parliament, scheduled to convene from Friday, is set to see a heated debate over the ordinances.

As per the parliamentary procedure, the government must table the ordinances on the first day of the House session and endorse replacement bills within sixty days.

The ordinances, which were authenticated by the President, have already been registered in the parliament secretariat, said Gurung. “In order to expedite the implementation of the ordinances, the government has also decided to formulate the necessary regulations,” said Gurung. “There is no ill intent behind the ordinances.”

“Bringing an ordinance is the constitutional right of the government and a necessity for the country. In order to promote good governance, to enable the business climate and to end the economic crisis, the government decided to bring the ordinances. We are not avoiding Parliament. We have already registered the ordinances in Parliament,” said Gurung, who is also the government spokesperson.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, speaking at the UML parliamentary party meeting, claimed that the general public is positive about the ordinances. He said the government introduced the ordinances with a good intent, to create an environment where Nepali youths can thrive, to improve service delivery and to facilitate the operation of businesses.

“We have amended 29 laws and will soon bring the replacement bills,” said the prime minister while urging UML lawmakers to participate in the House session with facts and figures and in a responsible manner.

On foreign relations, Oli said Nepal should maintain a balanced and mutually beneficial relations with both neighbours.

The prime minister countered claims by various quarters that there has been no progress and insisted that the government was focussed on improving education, healthcare, agriculture and other areas.

“We must work in an unconventional manner. This coalition government will last until the upcoming general elections. There is no merit in the rhetoric surrounding its collapse,” Oli added.

Oli also reassured party members that relations between the Congress and the UML are excellent and he has faced no difficulty in running the government.

Meanwhile, opposition parties are planning to meet soon to chart out their strategy for the upcoming parliamentary session, said Chairman of the CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal. “After we put pressure on the government to summon the House session, the government was forced to do so,” Dahal said addressing an event of the Socialist Front, a loose alliance of left-leaning parties.

He said the opposition will expose various ‘anti-people activities’ of the government over the past six months. He said the plan is to raise the issue of “increasing debt burden, protection of corrupt individuals close to the ruling parties and the government’s vendetta against political opponents.”

Ruling, opposition parties brace for a showdown

During Tuesday’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC), Maoist Centre chief whip Hitraj Pandey criticised the government for issuing ordinances just ahead of the House session.

“Why were so many ordinances introduced at once? The government doesn’t seem to trust the parliamentary process,” he said. Opposition parties have also urged the Speaker to address what they see as a disregard for parliamentary norms.

Pandey said they don’t object to the content of the ordinances but the intent of the Oli government and the ruling parties is questionable.

As per the 15-day calendar endorsed by the committee, all the bills will be introduced in the House of Representatives on Friday. They will be presented for endorsement in the second meeting of the lower house on February 6.

Although the ruling coalition has an almost two-thirds majority in the lower house, it could have a tough time getting the bills to clear the upper house, where it falls one seat short of a majority.

Meanwhile, the ruling parties have already directed their lawmakers to strongly defend the ordinances in Parliament. In the BAC meeting, Nepali Congress chief whip Shyam Ghimire said issuing ordinances was a compulsion because of customary delays in passing bills through Parliament.

The government cannot function in the absence of laws, he said. “To discourage ordinances, the House must set specific timelines for endorsing bills,” said Ghimire.

But opposition leaders countered by blaming the ruling parties for legislative delays. “Isn’t it the responsibility of the Congress and the UML to ensure that bills are endorsed on time?” asked Pandey. “Let’s make public attendance records of lawmakers of each party in the House and parliamentary committees.”

Currently, 18 different bills are under consideration in various parliamentary committees, some for more than two years.

Besides budget-related bills, the current federal parliament has endorsed just 11 other bills. Ruling party leaders say they will work to endorse all the pending bills in the winter session, which is also called the bill session.

As per the House calendar, the lower house will have six sittings until mid-February while House committees meeting will be held on other days.

“The ruling parties have agreed to derive maximum output from the upcoming session. Along with the pending bills, Parliament will endorse some additional bills,” said Mahesh Bartaula, the UML chief whip.

The government registered three bills in Parliament on Tuesday while at least around half a dozen bills are being readied to be introduced shortly, according to Ajay Chaurasiya, minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs.