A meeting held at the central office of Nepali Congress (NC) at Sanepa took the decision while entrusting the opposition alliance’s joint taskforce with drafting the protest programs for the second phase.[break]
NC President Sushil Koirala, CPN-UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal and leaders from other agitating political parties, along with other leaders from the same parties, were present at the meeting.
“The joint taskforce has been entrusted with working out protest programs for the second phase,” read a statement issued by NC spokesman Dilendra Prasad Badu after the joint meeting. “The new programs will be made public on February 11.”
The meeting also made an assessment that the 20-day long demonstration staged across the country successfully garnered people’s support. The opposition parties have planned to conclude the first phase of protests after holding a show of strength at Tundikhel in Kathmandu on Friday. They said they will bring tens of thousands of demonstrators for the Friday rally.
The opposition parties held regional demonstrations in Dailekh, Dhangadhi, Nepalgunj, Pokhara and Biratnagar, among other places.
“People have tremendously supported our protests outside the capital and this has encouraged us,” said Badu.
The nine-party opposition alliance led by NC and CPN-UML has taken to the streets demanding immediate exit of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and formation of a consensus government to conduct elections in the coming spring.
Prior to that, leaders from the major political parties held several rounds of talks but failed to agree on consensus prime ministerial candidate. They took to the streets, as even President Ram Baran Yadav’s initiatives to forge consensus among the parties yielded no result.
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