Four major parties to hold formal discussions today

KATHMANDU, March 14: Four major political parties—Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, UCPN (Maoist) and Madhes-based parties—are scheduled to sit in for formal talks at Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar at 4 pm Saturday.

UML Chairman KP Oli, who has been absent from recent political meeting due to his health condition, is expected to attend the meeting today.

Prior to today’s meeting, the ruling Nepali Congress met Madhes-centric parties while coalition partner CPN-UML had an interaction with the UCPN (M), in a bid to seek consensus on federalism on Friday.

UCPN (M)-led 30-party opposition alliance has put on hold its second phase of protest programmes till March 14 (today) in order to facilitate the talks among political parties. However, it has declared to launch its agitation if the talks today failed to establish positive headway.

The dialogue between the ruling and opposition parties, which has been stalled after the formation of Questionnaire Committee on January 25, has gained fresh momentum as of late.