The Nepali Congress, which is leading the Sudurpaschim Province government, and its coalition partner CPN-UML, appear steadfast in their decision not to pass the budget presented for the upcoming fiscal year 2083/84.

As budget disputes intensified in Sudurpaschim due to strong dissatisfaction among lawmakers, both ruling parties sent representatives from their central committees to Dhangadhi on Wednesday to assess the situation.

The UML deployed Discipline Commission Chair Pushparaj Kandel, while the Congress sent General Secretary Pradeep Paudel to Dhangadhi. On Wednesday, both leaders arrived in Dhangadhi and held separate meetings with their respective party lawmakers. During these discussions, lawmakers from both parties maintained that the budget was flawed and insisted it could not be passed in its current form.

In the discussion between UML leader Kandel and the lawmakers, most lawmakers said the budget could not be passed, according to lawmaker Dharma Raj Pathak, who is also chair of the Social Development Committee. “We have already decided in the parliamentary party meeting to reject the budget and register a proposal for expenditure cuts. We said we cannot backtrack from that decision,” said lawmaker Pathak. “Registering a proposal for expenditure cuts means the budget will fail. When all ministries’ budgets are cut to just one rupee, the message is clear.”

After hearing from the lawmakers, leader Kandel reportedly said he would return to the center and report, according to the lawmakers.

Meanwhile, Congress lawmakers, who lead the government, are also divided. Ministers and lawmakers supporting the special general convention are seen opposing the budget, while Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah and Deuba faction lawmakers and ministers have remained silent on the budget. “In discussions with General Secretary Paudel, it was pointed out that there are serious errors in the budget and that it cannot be passed in its current form,” said State Minister for Economic Affairs Juna Dani. “Lawmakers are saying the budget needs to be rewritten.” She added that even Congress ministers are very dissatisfied with the budget. According to State Minister Dani, lawmakers objected that the Minister for Economic Affairs had inserted arbitrary projects into the budget the night before it was presented.

After hearing from Congress lawmakers, General Secretary Paudel reportedly said he would return to the center for discussions and provide a conclusion on whether rewriting the budget would be possible, according to lawmakers. Of the three Congress ministers, Minister for Economic Affairs Bikram Singh Dhami is a Deuba faction leader close to the Chief Minister, while Social Development Minister Bel Bahadur Rana and Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment Man Bahadur Rawal are from the establishment faction.

Lawmakers from the establishment faction had registered a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Shah as leader of the parliamentary party. Subsequently, on Jestha 25, Shah recalled and reshuffled ministers from the Congress-held ministries, replacing Social Development Minister Meghraj Khadka, Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment Minister Shivraj Bhatt, and Minister for Economic Affairs Bahadur Singh Thapa, who were aligned with the establishment faction. In that process, Rana was appointed Social Development Minister and Rawal as Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment. For Economic Affairs, he appointed his own supporter Bikram Singh Dhami.

The government includes three ministers and one state minister from the UML. Surendra Bahadur Pal is Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development, Hira Sarki for Internal Affairs, Bir Bahadur Thapa for Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives, and Nirmala Devi Saud is State Minister for Physical Infrastructure Development.

During the budget formulation process, as misunderstandings grew between coalition partner UML and the Chief Minister, Chief Minister Shah attempted to resolve the issue by dividing up the budget. In that process, it was decided to allocate an additional one billion rupees to the UML-led Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, seven crore rupees to directly elected lawmakers, and five crore rupees to proportional representation lawmakers, and to present the budget accordingly.

However, after the budget was presented, lawmakers became dissatisfied, alleging that even the seven/five crore rupee allocations promised to lawmakers were distributed selectively, that arbitrary projects were included without maintaining financial discipline, that middlemen were involved, and that ministers allocated funds only to their own constituencies.

Due to lawmakers’ strong dissatisfaction with the budget, its fate has become uncertain. Less than a week remains before the start of the new fiscal year.

Immediately after the budget was presented, the ruling UML parliamentary party decided to reject the budget and register an amendment proposal. However, last Monday, it reversed that decision and decided to register a proposal for expenditure cuts instead.

According to UML parliamentary party deputy leader Santosh Kumari Sharma Thapa, preparations are underway to register a proposal for expenditure cuts in the provincial assembly meeting scheduled for Thursday. The parliamentary party has assigned lawmakers responsibility for each ministry to register the proposals.

According to Thapa, lawmaker Chatrabahadur Malla is responsible for preparing and registering the expenditure cut proposal for the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development; Santosh Kumari Sharma Thapa for the Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forests and Environment; parliamentary party leader Rajendra Singh Rawal for the Ministry of Economic Affairs; Daman Bhandari for the Ministry of Internal Affairs; Dharma Raj Pathak for the Ministry of Social Development; and Janaki Air for the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives.

Minister for Economic Affairs Dhami stated in the budget speech that the total budget for the coming fiscal year would be 37.70 billion rupees. However, in the budget statement booklet made public a day later, the figure was 37,703,966,000 rupees. Minister Dhami did not specify the allocations for current and capital expenditures or the breakdown by ministry.

Khagaraj Bhatt, leader of the main opposition CPN parliamentary party, said they had decided to strongly oppose the passage of a flawed budget program that violated even basic principles. On Wednesday, the provincial assembly meeting was adjourned without starting because ministers were absent. As no government representatives were present when the meeting was scheduled to begin, Speaker Bhim Bahadur Bhandari adjourned the session.