The meeting saw both the sides reaffirming their respective stances but ended inconclusively, CPN-UML leader Raghuji Pant, a participating leader, said. He added that both the sides, hailing the beginning of dialogue as a positive step, however have agreed to sit for another round of talks soon. [break]
The dissenting parties have been pressing for scrapping of the earlier 25-point agreement meant to clear hurdles for new CA elections, retaining the size of CA as it was previously (601 seats), delineating the constituencies based on population and resignation of Interim Election Council of Ministers Khil Raj Regmi as head of judiciary, as key demands.
Recently, the HLPC had decided to downsize the strength of CA to 491 and has been urging the dissenting parties to participate in the CA elections scheduled for November 19 later this year. It has also asked the parties not to the put forth the resignation of the Regmi government, formed solely to conduct the polls.
“We have clarified our positions to each other. We will hold talks again after assessing how much we can concede on our stances to each other,” Pant said. Echoing him, UCPN (Maoist) leader Narayankaji Shrestha said, “This was our first meeting. Understandable, we can’t expect results just at first go. We will continue the talks,” added Shrestha with optimism.The HLPC is also prepared to hold talks with the Mohan Baidya-led alliance once Baidya returns to the capital from his current visit to the Tarai, according to Pant.
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