Bhattarai and Dahal gave the assurance to the leaders of the Madhesi parties after the latter expressed concern over the stalemate in the constitution writing and peace process during their "regular" meeting with Maoist leaders on Monday. [break]
"The prime minister and Prachanda [Dahal] assured us that they would think of other alternative only if the peace process does not move forward and if drafting of constitution fails," JP Gupta, chairman of Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (R), said.
In addition, Dahal and Bhattarai also assured the Madhesi leaders that they would not deviate from the peace process and from the past agreements on issues related to constitution writing.
"They told us that they would not deviate from what has already been agreed with regard to constitution making," said Gupta.
According to another Madhesi leader Mahendra Yadav, Bhattarai and Dahal assured them of advancing the stalled peace process by starting the voluntary retirement process without any delay. But the Maoist leaders did not specify when the process would start, Yadav said.
Yadav added that the meeting has also evaluated the progress in implementation of the four-point agreement reached between the Maoists and the alliance of Madhesi parties in August before the formation of the present coalition.
"There has been progress in the implementation of the four-point agreement," Yadav said.
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