House to go into weeklong recess after today's formal start of winter session

The meeting of the top leaders of the seven parties held at Baluwatar on Saturday morning has decided to postpone the regular session of the interim parliament by a week after today's formal opening.

According to UML leader Jhalanath Khanal, the parties will intensify discussion during this time in order to break political deadlock before the House session resumes.

"Serious discussion is required to reach a conclusion and this requires more time. The session will continue once parties reach an agreement," Khanal told Nepalnews.

Nepali Congress leader Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat said the proposal to put off the House for some time was brought up by UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, suggesting the leaders to intensify discussion for a political compromise.

Mahat said the leaders also agreed, in principle, to hold the constituent assembly elections within mid-April for which the interim constitution will be amended by the end of this month.

Today's sitting of the House is scheduled to start at 3 p.m.

Besides debating the current political deadlock, the winter session of the parliament is to endorse the two ordinances the government recently promulgated. They include an Act on establishing a trust of the wealth owned by late King Birendra and his family and the Act to control possession of the arms by individuals. nepalnews.com ia Nov 19 07

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