Former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and UML general secretary Ishwar Pokharel held a meeting with Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Friday evening at Nepal´s residence in Koteshwor. [break]
According to Pokharel, who is also a member of the four-member CPN-UML talks team, the talks were positive.
The standing committee meeting of the party on Thursday had formed a four-member team to hold consultations with other parties to end the deadlock over cabinet expansion.
When asked whether they would ask Nepali Congress to join the government, Pokharel said, "Nepali Congress has a sense of democratic values. We hope it will take a decision that would help forge consensus."
Pokharel,however, refused to give details of the meeting, saying that the discussions were preliminary.
The CPN-UML leaders had tried to hold meetings with leaders of the Nepali Congress but could not as NC leaders, including party President Sushil Koirala, are out of the capital to take part in the party´s programs across the country to mark the Democracy Day that falls on Saturday.
"The CPN-UML leaders had tried to meet our party president. But he was in Nepalgunj. I suppose the meeting will take place after he returns to Kathmandu on Tuesday," said Nepali Congress leader Dr Shekhar Koirala.
Earlier in the morning, Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal and Maoist Chairman Dahal held a meeting to discuss the present deadlock at Khanal´s official residence in Baluwatar.
"Dahal said the coailition may have to face challenges ahead," said Surya Thapa, UML´s publicity department secretary and an aide to the prime minister. "He said the parties should face the situation on the basis of mutual understanding."
Dahal also stressed that the political course laid by the two parties should be taken to a logical conclusion, added Thapa.
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