Kathmandu, August 16:

The meeting of the High-Level Inter-party Coordination Committee (HICC) could not take place today due to lack of quorum. Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel had called the meeting in the evening to work out agenda to be discussed at the top level meeting of the eight-party alliance.

Today’s meeting was attended by Poudel, Maoist leader Dr Baburam Bhattarai and Nepali Congress-Democratic leader Bimalendra Nidhi. Representatives of the CPN-UML, Janamorcha Nepal, United Left Front, Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandi Devi) and Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party did not attend the meeting. The HICC was formed to assist the top leaders of the eight parties in policy matters.

Dr Bhattarai told the mediapersons that they could not hold a formal meeting as some of the HICC members did not turn up at the meeting. He, however, said that they concluded that the eight-party meeting should be called at the earliest to overcome doubts over the possibility of holding the CA polls on time. He said HICC’s meeting which would take place tomorrow, would work out the agenda to be discussed at the top level meeting of the eight-party alliance.

Minister Poudel said they held general discussion about holding the eight-party meeting soon. He said the HICC meeting would be held in a day or two.

Meanwhile, Poudel, issuing a press statement today, called upon the university teachers to call off their hunger strike and sit for talks to find a solution to their problems. University teachers are on a hunger strike and launching other protest programmes demanding appointments in vacant positions in the universities.