KATHMANDU, 15 September 2021, (TON): The meeting of the House of Representatives has been adjourned for a week, until September 20, after discussions on the replacement bill on the budget, amid sloganeering by CPN-UML lawmakers.

Speaker Agni Sapkota allowed Finance Minister Janardan Sharma to present the bill using marshals to contain the obstruction from the main opposition. No lawmaker except Prem Suwal, a member of the lower house from Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party, participated in the discussion.

Sharma had presented the replacement bill amid obstructions from the UML, which has vowed not to let the House function accusing Speaker Sapkota of not acknowledging the party’s August 17 decision to expel 14 lawmakers, including Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Nepal split from the UML and formed his party, CPN (Unified Socialist), on August 26.

The UML has alleged that Speaker Sapkota played a complicit role in splitting the UML.

As the ordinance on the national budget issued by the erstwhile KP Sharma Oli government gets invalidated from Wednesday night, the government will not be able to spend from the state coffers until the replacement budget gets endorsed from the house.