PM to initiate talks with other parties over interim govt formation
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has agreed to initiate bilateral and multilateral talks with other political parties over the formation of interim government including Maoists.
He will initiate the talks beginning Wednesday. Following such talks, joint meeting of eight party leaders could also take place.
At the meeting of top leaders of four parties – Nepali Congress (NC), NC-Democratic, UML and Maoists – held Tuesday evening at Baluwatar, the leaders agreed to initiate talks to finalise the interim government soon.
"Today's meeting focused on the four agendas put forth by the previous meeting of senior leaders of the four parties. They included aspects about the need to hold the Constituent Assembly elections on time; interim constitution amendment; formation of interim government and formulation of its action plans; and legislations required for the CA elections," said Ram Chandra Poudel, general secretary of NC.
During Tuesday's meeting, issues related with Maoist chairman's recent remarks – on presence of arms outside cantonments and alleged plots by royalists to kill leaders - were also discussed. The Maoist leader agreed to abide by all the past commitments. The meeting was attended by PM Koirala, Prachanda, Madhav Kumar Nepal and Sher Bahadur Deuba.
The Maoist chairman has been saying that the interim government should be formed by mid-March or else, he has warned to unleash countrywide peaceful protests. However, given the agreement to continue parleys, it looks highly unlikely that a government including Maoist representatives could be formed by that deadline.
Earlier in the afternoon, second-rung leaders of NC such as Poudel and Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat met with UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal at parliament premises to talk about the CA elections. "I suggested forming interim government soon and fixing the date for CA polls. I even suggested holding CA polls on June 12," said Nepal. nepalnews.com sd Mar 13 07
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