Parties to seek consensus on election by Wednesday

KATHMANDU, Jan 30: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on  Monday held consultations with the ruling coalition partners, the Nepali Congress and the Madhesi Front, and the Federal Alliance on constitution amendment and election of the local bodies, among other issues. 

The parties could not reach an agreement in the nearly two hours long consultations held at the Prime Minister's official residence at Baluwatar, although they tried to forge consensus on the two topics. 

The leaders of both the ruling parties and the Madhesi Front have said efforts would be made to seek consensus by holding meeting once again in a couple of days. 
It is learnt that another decisive meeting would be held after the discussions with the main opposition party, the CPN (UML), on Tuesday. 

The parties could not reach a consensus due to the respective stance taken by the two sides. From the government's side, Prime Minister Prachanda had proposed to taking ahead the topic of constitution amendment and the election of the local bodies simultaneously. But the Madhesi Front leaders said that not a single election out of the three tiers of elections could move ahead without settling the constitution amendment issue. It was then that the parties agreed to hold another meeting aimed at seeking consensus on the two contentious issues. 

CPN (Maoist Centre) leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha, who also participated in the discussions, said an agreement has been reached to finalise the issue of constitution amendment and elections after holding consultations among the parties by Wednesday. 

According to leader Shrestha, PM Dahal focused on forwarding constitution amendment process and leading the nation on the way to election but the parties in the Madhesi Front focused on finalizing the constitution amendment process before announcing the date for elections. 

The Sadbhawana party co-chair Laxman Lal Karna shared that they held positive and serious discussions regarding the constitution amendment and elections process. 

According to Karna, PM Dahal shared that he would take decision on their query of constitution amendment bill and announcement of election date after holding serious discussions with other parties. 

The meeting concluded agreeing on calling next meeting. 

Present in the meeting were, PM Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, leader Prakash Man Singh, Federal Alliance coordinator Upendra Yadav, Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party chair Mahantha Thakur among others. RSS 

 
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