Cabinet meeting called off

Kathmandu, October 21 — The cabinet meeting scheduled for today has been postponed. The meeting was set to take place at 5 PM at the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers office in Singhadurbar but was unexpectedly canceled in the afternoon.

"A cabinet meeting was called for 5 PM, but we have received news that it has now been postponed," said one minister, adding, "The reason has not been disclosed." The meeting was expected to discuss introducing an ordinance related to party division. Although Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had made prior attempts to advance this, the ruling coalition partner, Nepali Congress, has been consistently reserving its stance against it. The reason for today’s postponement may also be linked to this, the minister indicated.

With no parliamentary session currently in session, Prime Minister Oli was preparing to introduce the ordinance to divide smaller parties, including the CPN Unified Socialist and JSP led by Ashok Rai. However, after Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba maintained that the ordinance should not proceed, Oli's plan has reportedly faced immediate failure.