78 FORMER NC LAWMAKERS OPPOSE PARTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE DECISION Kathmandu, 1 Nov : One day after a formal decision by the party central committee, 78 former NC Constituent Assembly (CA) members Thursday said they were seriously concerned with the decision to go for fresh CA polls. They said this in a joint statement. President Sushil Koirala was pushing the elections opposed bt top leaders Sher Bahadur Deuba and Ram Chandra Paudel who have been demanddding a short assembly reinstatement. The dissidents argued CA reinstatement was essential for consensus on contentious issues to write a constitution. Nnnn PM SAYS GOVT. PREPARING TO ANNOUNCE FULL BUDGET Kathmandu, 1 Nov. : Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai has said that the Government was working to table a full budget based on a political consensus, and urged industrialists and economists to help towards that end, RSS reports. At a discussion organized at Singha Durbar today by the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers with economists and industrialists on the full budget, the Prime Minister said the Government was working to table a budget with a common minimum program on a political consensus. "The present government is trying its level best to bring a full budget after forging a consensus among all the political parties", Dr Bhattarai said and expressed the confidence that an agreement towards that end would be reached soon. He also said that the parties are presently holding extensive consultations in order to forge a consensus on a ´package deal´ to resolve issues relating to the budget and other contentious issues. As the full budget would give special priority to poverty minimization, energy production, modernization of the agriculture sector, infrastructure development, minimizing the trade deficit and displacing imports, nobody should have any objections over it, he said. Stating that there was no alternative to introducing a budget as per provisions in the directive principles of the state as envisaged in the Interim Constitution of Nepal, the Prime Minister said the state cannot be left without a budget if an agreement is not reached among the political parties for the same. Urging the opposition parties to give a helping hand for economic development of the country, the Prime Minister reiterated that he would not become an obstacle to a political outlet. Finance Minister Barshaman Pun said development construction works have been badly affected due to absence of a full budget and added that the Government had no alternative to forging a consensus. On the occasion, he also urged the industrialists and businessmen to understand the complexities and seriousness of the present state of transition. Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi said the economy was at a very critical stage and emphasized that the issue of budget should not be made a subject of political bargaining. Industrialists and businessmen including office-bearers of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Industries, Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Prof. Madan Kumar Bhattarai and Biswambhar Pyakurel and others on the occasion expressed the view that the Prime Minister should give a way out to stop the country from becoming a ´failed state´. Nnnn e