Official meeting of the ruling and opposition parties

The official meeting of the ruling and opposition parties which was held after a hiatus to resolve the deadlock in the constitution writing process has ended only on the note of continuing further talks. The two-and-a-half-hour meeting held at the prime minister's official residence at Baluwatar this morning concluded by assigning the responsibility of determining the date of the next meeting to Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and Chairman of main opposition Unified CPN-Maoist Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'. The responsibility of seeking agreement on the contentious constitutional issues has also been assigned to senior leaders of the major parties. Commencing the meeting, Prime Minister Koirala had called on all leaders to come to a mutual understanding to promulgate the constitution on the basis of consensus. Responding to this, Unified-Maoist Chairman Prachanda had said his party was ready to show flexibility on the issue of form of governance, and proposed to come down to a concrete agreement on the issues of federalism. BITE... Leaders from Nepali Congress attending the meeting were Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, Vice- Chairman Ram Chandra Poudel, and general secretary-duo Prakashman Singh and Krishna Prasad Sitaula, while leaders from CPN-UML including Vice- Chairman Bamdev Gautam and General Secretary Ishwor Pokhrel were also present at the meeting. Similarly, Chairman Prachanda, leaders Baburam Bhattarai and Naraynakaji Shrestha from the Unified CPN-Maoist, Chairman of MJF- Democratic Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, Chairman of TMDP Mahanta Thakur and the party's leader Mahendra Yadav, Ashok Rai from Federal Socialist Party, Kumar Lingden from Federal Limbuwan Party and Bhanuram Tharu from Tharuhat Terai had also attended the meeting. UML Chairman K. P. Oli, MJF-Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav and Sadhbhawana Party Chairman Rajendra Mahato were not present in the meeting. Meanwhile, a positive sign is seen in the political scenario with the main opposition Unified CPN-Maoist agreeing to participate in the meetings of all parliamentary committees.