Even though 20 bills are stalled in the federal parliament, the government is hesitating to call the parliament meeting. The two ruling parties have prepared to bring an ordinance to facilitate the division of parties by pushing the parliament session. The winter session of the Federal Parliament has not been called as Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is preparing to introduce an ordinance on the division of political parties.

The opposition parties have started protesting that the government has affected the date of the parliament session by trying to bring an ordinance.

Although there is a constitutional provision that there should not be a gap of more than 6 months between two sessions, the practice was to call the winter session within three months. This time, three and a half months have passed since the session ended. Because the budget has to be brought, the winter session is held within one month and a half after the end of the winter session. 

Speaker Devraj Ghimire has also started expressing his displeasure from the public platform regarding the delay in convening the session. He had commented that only a few days ago, the government was running around avoiding the parliament. One thing that I seriously feel is that the Parliament is the mother that gives birth to the government. But the government is doing whatever it takes to get away from the mother, to find a way to boycott, to argue or argue, etc., this is absurd," he said in a program organized by the Federal Parliament Secretariat last week. 

A minister said that the government is in a state of mind to convene the session by the end of January or the first week of January. He said that the convening of the session has been delayed as the parties are yet to finalize the ordinance on party division. Discussions are going on in Baluwatar whether or not to bring an ordinance on the division of political parties before the convention is convened. After it is decided, the date of the convention will be fixed, he said.

Prime Minister Oli tried to bring an ordinance related to political parties in the first week of October. But it was stopped due to the non-acceptance of the Congress co-traveler. A Congress official said that since the Prime Minister wants to bring the ordinance again, there is no way to stop it. "Discussions are going on whether to go through the ordinance or to amend the law through Parliament," he said. 

 The leaders say that Prime Minister Oli wants to bring an ordinance on party division even as half a dozen MPs of the United Socialist Party are trying to join UML. 

 Section 33 (3) of the Political Parties Act 2073 provides that a separate new party formed by at least 40 percent of the members of the Central Committee and the Parliamentary Party of the Federal Parliament cannot be divided for five years from the date of recognition by the Election Commission. Since there are more than 40 percent of MPs who want to join the UML in the United Socialist Party, 40 percent in the parliamentary party and central committee is replaced by "and".

The Congress leaders are arguing that the bill can be taken to the parliament by amending the provision that only 'or' can be kept and the party cannot split within five years. "Bringing ordinances whenever needed, and repealing ordinances and keeping laws inactive cannot be a democratic exercise," said another Congress leader.

After the earlier ordinance was repealed, the Political Parties Act is inactive as a replacement bill has not been passed to create the Act. The government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba at that time brought an ordinance that the party could be divided if 20 percent of the parliamentary party and the central committee were in one of them. After the ordinance was not submitted to the Parliament, the then President Bidya Devi Bhandari revoked it on October 11, 2078. There is a constitutional provision that the president can revoke the

ordinance at any time. After the repeal of the Ordinance, the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government had registered a bill in the Parliament on 18th January 2080 to keep the previous provisions in the Act, but that bill has not been moved forward. While the

Act was inoperative, the Upendra Yadav-led Jaspa Nepal was divided and the Janata Samajwadi Party was registered under the leadership of Ashok Rai. A petition filed in the Supreme Court is under consideration saying that it is illegal to divide the party by resorting to the regulations when the Act itself is inactive. 

Maoist's Chief Whip Hitraj Pandey said that when the Parliament session was called and the bill was brought, the government was going to run the country through ordinances. "It was wrong for the government to bring an ordinance instead of calling a session of the House," he said. The government is playing games with the parliament. He says that he is delaying the convening of the session due to the fear of criticizing the government in the parliament.

RSVP MP Sovita Gautam responded that the government does not want to listen to the voice of the people by not calling the parliament session. The recent political scenario of the country is not so good, the government is engaged in individual-centered issues. The government has closed the parliament for a long time and silenced the people's voice because of the need to solve the people's problems and create laws,' she said, 'The government has devalued the parliament by introducing laws through ordinances while calling the assembly, the government is trying to run the country through ordinances.' 

Mahesh Bertaula, the chief whip of UML, claimed that the government is preparing to call the session. He says that the government is preparing to call the session to be held in the last week of December. Now the government needs a parliament. Bills must be passed. As the bills have been stalled in the Parliament for years, the work is being done at a fast pace now," said Bertaula. "The government has not walked away from the Parliament. Instead, the work that should be done by the parliament has not been done.' 

Bertaula informed that the government is preparing to pass a bill related to the implementation of the constitution including the police, civil aviation authority, civil service, school education, etc. in the upcoming session. He says that the opposition parties are looking for a quick session only to criticize the government in the parliament. "It is not right to demand a session of the Parliament because it was not possible to make a speech, criticize the government, or comment," said Bertaula. 

'Preparation to pass at least 25 bills' 

The meeting of the political machinery in the presence of Prime Minister Oli and Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba made a mechanism to move the bill under consideration in the Parliament through the 'fast track'. In the mechanism, there are chief whips and whips of both houses of the two parties as party representatives along with secretary Yogesh Bhattarai from UML and joint general minister Jeevan Pariyar from Congress. Bhattarai and Pariyar have been given the responsibility to play a coordinating role in making a common opinion between the two parties on the disagreements in the bill. 

Congress Co-General Minister Pariyar said preparations are being made to pass a common opinion on all 19 bills, including 15 in the House of Representatives and 4 in the National Assembly. The two parties had an internal discussion on the status of the bill with the MPs in the committee on Wednesday. "There is a plan to hold a joint meeting of the two parties on Thursday to discuss the complex nature of the bill," said Joint Chief Minister Pariyar.

Congress chief whip Shyam Ghimire informed that the government is planning to pass at least 25 bills in the winter session, including 20 in the parliamentary committees and commitments from the home minister. Discussions are underway between the two parties on the bill to move forward with a common opinion. This time, the government is preparing to take as many as 30 bills. But at least 25 bills are getting passed, he said.