Kathmandu, June 14:

Top guns of Nepali Congress held a meeting here today to take stock of the progress being made by the three-party task force constituted recently to find common ground between CPN-Maoist, CPN-UML and Nepali Congress.

Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat and senior advocate Radheshyam Adhikari, who represent NC in the task force, apprised party leaders of the progress being made on contemporary issues, according to party general secretary Bimalendra Nidhi.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba, leader Shushil Koirala, Nidhi and some other central members of the party took part in the meeting.

“We felt that the major issues have not been resolved yet. Serious differences still persist on the settlement of Maoist arms, adjustment of the Maoist army, composition of security council, constitutional council and the return of seized property,” Nidhi stated.

“We want the Maoists to return the seized property, but they are talking of revolutionary land reform,” he said adding that the Maoists love for arms and army, particularly after holding of Constituent Assembly elections and abolition of monarchy, was self-contradictory. He said that the CPN-Maoist, as the largest party, should seriously pursue the path of consensus and do its bid to implement peace pacts within a certain time frame.

“We want only those Maoist army personnel, who qualify for the army service, to join the Nepal Army. The CPN-Maoist is saying that all of their army personnel should be integrated into the NA. We cannot accept this proposition,” Nidhi said adding it was against democratic norms for the Maoist supremo Prachanda to lead the government and remain as the supreme commander of the Maoist army.