The participating leaders said that although they haven't reached any agreement over the disputed issues, they have narrowed the differences and are making progress in finding a middle ground.
During discussions on Thursday, Madhesi leaders took positively a proposal to form a political committee with clear terms of reference (ToR) for tackling the disputes over provincial boundaries.
"They [leaders from agitating Madhesi parties] said it would be easier for us to move ahead if we set out clear ToR for the political committee," Nepali Congress (NC) leader Mahesh Acharya told Republica. "Discussions are moving ahead in a positive environment though we are yet to reach any conclusions on any of the contentious issues."
Major political parties and the agitating Madhesi parties earlier this week formed a taskforce and entrusted it with responsibility to find a middle-way solution to the disputes.
NC leader Acharya, CPN-UML Vice-chair Bhim Rawal, UCPN (Maoist) General Secretary Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Rajendra Shrestha of Federal Socialist Forum, Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party's Hridayesh Tripathi and Ramnaresh Ray Yadav of Tarai-Madhesh Sadbhavana Party are members of the taskforce. Home Minister Shakti Basnet represented the UCPN (Maoist) on Thursday as Mahara was absent.
Shrestha said although NC's Acharya proposed to form a political committee with clear ToR, the matter couldn't be discussed in detail as leaders from the CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist) insisted on discussing the constitution amendment proposals registered in parliament. Thursday was the deadline for registering proposals for changes.
"Talks are positive but we haven't taken any decision so far," said Shrestha.
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