During the three-party meeting held at the Special Committee Secretariat in New Baneshwar, NC agreed to officially propose the party´s prime ministerial candidate in the next round of negotiations scheduled for Thursday afternoon. “Since the UCPN (Maoist) and UML have asked us to name the prime ministerial candidate from the party, we will decide the name after a meeting of our central working committee,” said NC General Secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula after the meeting.[break]
NC has called its CWC meeting for Wednesday. CWC members said the meeting will officially name party president Sushil Koirala as the prime ministerial candidate. NC´s decision comes in the wake of various opposition parties criticizing the party for failing to pick its prime ministerial candidate.
Sitaula expressed confidence that NC´s leadership would be acceptable to all parties to hold fresh CA polls.
UCPN (Maoist) Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha said they can be flexible over the candidate as long as he is committed to federalism, republicanism and can hold CA elections. “We have told them [opposition parties] that we can discuss after they propose the candidate,” he said.
UML leader K P Sharma Oli said they are hopeful that they would be able to reach consensus before Thursday, the extended deadline given by the president to find consensus. “I am hopeful that the talks will head toward a positive direction from tomorrow [Wednesday],” he said.
Shame if you still fail at consensus: Prez tells parties
President Dr Ram Baran Yadav has said that the country will plunge into difficult situation if the parties still fail to forge consensus.
At a meeting with the top leaders of four major political parties including UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and United Democratic Madhesi Front, President Yadav repeated his call to the parties to forge consensus on all issues including the formation of new government at the earliest. With just two days left for the extended deadline to form a consensus govenrment, President Yadav had invited the leaders at his residence to urge them to hold serious talks.
Talking to media persons after the meeting, UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal said the president told them that it was a shame that the parties have failed to forge consensus for resolving the impasse even after four months since the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. “The president told us that it is already a shame,” he said.
The leaders had reiterated at the meeting that there should be a package deal on all issues after the ruling party leaders argued that the parties should first agree on settling the issues related to the appointments in various constitutional bodies and bring amendments to the necessary laws and the Interim Constitution to hold fresh poll by mid-May.
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