Breaking its silence and adding to the woes of the ruling parties, the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (JSP-Nepal) has said it will endorse all but one ordinance—on amending ‘Some Nepal Acts Related to Land Management’.

A parliamentary party meeting of the sixth largest political force has concluded that the ordinance to amend land management laws was issued to open legal avenues for arbitrary distribution of public land. The meeting took the decision based on a report by party’s vice-chair Raj Kishore Yadav, which has pointed out several dire consequences of the ordinance’s parliamentary endorsement.

As per the report, allowing the distribution of land as envisioned in the ordinance would lead to environment degradation and disrupt peace and security by altering the country’s demographic pattern.

“This will only benefit some corrupt individuals, those close to the government, commission agents, and land mafias who have set their eyes on forests, public lands, and marketable areas. This is not in the interest of the country and its people,” reads the parliamentary party decision. The party has also warned that endorsement of the ordinance would lead to the destruction of the Chure region—the ecological lifeline of Madhesh.

Talking to the media after the meeting, Yadav said his party would vote against the ordinance. “We can support and vote for the other five ordinances,” he said.

The government on January 10 recommended the President issue five ordinances including one on land management. President Ramchandra Paudel issued four of them on January 13. He, however, took two additional days to study the land management ordinance. Only after concerns were raised by senior ministers from the KP Sharma Oli government did the President issue the disputed ordinance on January 15.

Earlier, the President on December 29 had also issued an ordinance to amend the cooperative Act.

The government introduced all the ordinances in the House of Representatives in the first meeting of the winter session of the federal parliament on January 31. Introduction of the ordinance(s) in the first meeting of the new House session is a constitutional obligation.

As per the calendar of the lower house, all the ordinances were supposed to be tabled on February 6 for endorsement. However, the government refrained from putting them to vote, assessing that they would not pass the National Assembly without support from the Upendra Yadav led JSP-Nepal. While the ruling parties command a comfortable majority in the lower house, they lack a majority in the upper house.

The Nepali Congress has 16 seats in the 59-strong upper house. While the CPN-UML has 10 seats, the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party has one. If Anjan Shakya and Bamdev Gautam, both nominated by the government, side with the ruling alliance, it will have 29 seats, just one shy of majority. Whichever side the JSP-Nepal, with three seats, stands will secure a majority.

The Congress and the UML including their top leaders had been requesting the JSP-Nepal to back the ordinances. But the JSP-Nepal had maintained that it would decide at the right time. Now the party’s decision to reject one ordinance has come as a major headache for the ruling alliance.

Ruling party leaders say while they respect the decision of the JSP-Nepal, they will continue negotiations to persuade it to support all the ordinances before the vote.

“We are still in talks with the party. The ruling alliance is confident that all the ordinances will be endorsed by both Houses,” said Mahesh Bartaula, the UML chief whip, adding the ordinances will be put to vote within two weeks at most.

All the ordinances must pass both chambers, and their replacement bills must be introduced in the House within 60 days of their introduction—or they are rendered null and void. The government has until March to meet the deadline.