KATHMANDU: The talks held between the leaders of Unified CPN-Maoist and CPN-UML over resolving the House impasse ended inconclusively on Friday after both the sides could not forge consensus on the terms to be used in the PM’s proposed address to Parliament.

However, both the sides claimed that they were positive and close to consensus. They said that they would again meet tomorrow and try reach to an agreement.

A few days ago, the two parties had agreed to resume the House session. The UCPN-M has been maintaining that they will resume the House business, if the PM incorporated the issues raised by the party in his address in Parliament.

Lawmakers of the UCPN-M have been disrupting the

House for more than a month, protesting against the President’s decision to reinstate

Chief of Army Staff sacked by the government.

“The UCPN-M wants to include the terms ‘President’ and ‘CoAS’ in the PM’s address. However, the coalition partners are against using such terms,” UML chief whip Bhim Acharya said.

Acharya further said that the UML was ready to include the statement — ‘the government will discuss the issues raised by the UCPN-M on the issue of civilian supremacy’ — in the PM’s address.

The UCPN-M, however, wants the issue to be incorporated in the PM’s address at any cost. “We want to include the statement — ‘the government’s attention has seriously been drawn on the UCPN-M’s demands and it would be addressed after holding discussions among the parties’ — in the PM’s address,” UCPN-M leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha said.

Fringe parties hold parleys

KATHMANDU: A meeting of 12- fringe political parties on Friday demanded the government to provide facilities similar to a state minister to the leaders of all the fringe parties. The parties also demanded to include all the parties representing the Constituent Assembly (CA) in the mechanism to be formed to run the government. The meeting was called by the UCPN-ML chairman CP Mainali as per the request of PM Madhav Kumar Nepal.

According to Keshav Prasad Mainali of Chure Bhawar Rastriya Ekta Party Nepal, the meeting demanded the government to consult with the smaller parties before making political appointments. They, however, failed to decide on the name to be sent to the cabinet. “The name has not been finalised though five parties proposed Prem Bahadur Singh of Samajbadi Prajatantrik Janata Party,” Mainali said.

CP Mainali said he would submit a report to the PM by Sunday. “I will put forward the demands of all the fringe-parties on the report through which the PM will decide on the two portfolios to be shared among the fringe parties.”— HNS