The top Maoist brass led by Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal held talks with the NC late Monday evening and sought the latter´s cooperation in finalizing the first integrated draft of the constitution before May 28 -- the CA deadline -- and reaching consensus on the modality for integration and rehabilitation of the party´s combatants at the earliest. [break]
“We informed the NC about our party´s latest decision to put in best efforts to conclude the peace process and constitution drafting. They said they knew about the decision from the papers and they are very positive about our decision,” Maoist Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha said.
The NC and the Maoists then agreed to hold informal talks at the top level before striking an agreement on the contentious issues.
“We told them that they were late in coming up with that decision on the peace process. We did not take any decision today but agreed to hold informal talks to reach consensus,” said NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel.
Chairman Dahal, Vice-chairmen Mohan Baidya Dr Baburam Bhattarai and Shrestha and General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa from the Maoist party and President Sushil Koirala, Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel and Senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba were present during the meeting.
Quitting the party line of revolt, Maoist CC meeting last week had decided to focus on peace and constitution.
During the meeting, the Maoists requested the NC to agree on the preparation of a draft constitution with the provisions that were endorsed through consensus in the CA and incorporating the dissenting views. The former rebels asked the NC to step up talks at the taskforce under the Special Committee to prepare the modality for integration and begin the task of “regrouping the combatants”.
The Maoist party plans to prepare the first integrated draft of the constitution and begin the integration process before discussing the CA term extension.
The party has reached a conclusion that it is almost not possible to conclude the peace process by excluding the NC from power. "But we only talked on the issues of the peace process and constitution drafting today," Shrestha said.
The Maoists also held talks with the UML in the morning on the issues of the peace process and the early budget. The two parties agreed on seek consensus of the NC on tabling the early budget. The NC has threatened to disrupt the parliamentary proceedings if the government tables the early budget violating the fiscal discipline.
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