KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and three senior leaders of the Nepali Congress — Sher Bahadur Deuba, Acting President Sushil Koirala and Vice President Ram Chandra Paudel — held talks on finding a solution to the current political deadlock.

During the two-and-a-half hours of talks, held at the PM’s residence in Baluwatar this evening, the PM and the NC leaders dwelt on making joint efforts at the High-Level Political Mechanism to ensure that the post of HLPM coordinator either went to NC or UML.

Unified CPN-Maoist and the NC have been claiming the coordinator’s post after the demise of its coordinator Girija Prasad Koirala nine days ago. The HLPM was formed on January 8 with three broad objectives — taking the peace process to a logical end, writing the new constitution on time through the Constituent Assembly and ending the political deadlock.

“Today’s meeting dwelt on making single proposal of the NC and CPN-UML about management of Maoist combatants,” said the attending sources.

Today’s meeting was part of the groundwork for tomorrow’s HLPM and to present unanimous view about the combatants and the issues related to the new constitution, sources said.

The leaders also dwelt on joint stances to be taken by the two parties at the HLPM on the contentious issues, including setting up of the State Restructuring Commission to carve out federal structure.

The NC leaders complained to the PM that their concerns had not been addressed in the government. “We talked about our practical concerns while running the present coalition and about other contemporary political issues,” said NC leader Paudel.