Kathmandu, June 11:

The top central leaders of the Nepali Congress (NC) today conferred among themselves on issues ranging from demands raised by indigenous groups to how to beef up the party organisation in the Tarai.

“It was not a meeting at all. Few of us had sat down to confer on crucial issues. The issues include demands put forth by indigenous community and how to go about boosting the party organisation in Tarai under changing times,” NC leader Arjun Narsingh KC told this daily.

The discussion is being considered important at a time when talks are going on with the National Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN). The leaders exchanged views on how best to deal with the NEFIN talks team as the talks advance.

Equally important for the party is the need to evolve a strategy to keep on impressing the party following in the Tarai.

The leaders have taken the latest ‘ceasefire’ between Prachanda and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala positively. KC said that leaders also discussed the topic of unification of the NC and NC (D). “The leadership feels that it would be better if the parties are unified sooner than later,” KC said. The meeting was attended by Ram Chandra Paudel, Ram Sharan Mahat, Ram Krishna Tamrakar and Amod Upadhayay, among others.