KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 26
Talks between the leaders of Nepali Congress and CPN-UML on the Millennium Challenge Corporation deal ended inconclusively today.
NC leaders Purna Bahadur Khadka, Gagan Kumar Thapa, and Gyanendra Bahadur Karki held talks with CPN-UML leaders Ishwar Pokharel, Shankar Pokharel, and Bishnu Rimal at UML Chair KP Sharma Oli's residence in Balkot.
After the meeting, Karki said he wanted to give good news today, but he did not have good tidings because the CPN-UML stuck to its old demands. The UML, which has been stalling House proceedings, said they would take part in parliamentary proceedings only if the speaker confirms the expulsion of 14 lawmakers, or steps down.
Karki, who is Communications and Information Technology minister, had said yesterday that all sides needed to move two steps ahead in order to break the current stalemate in the House.
UML General Secretary Shankar Pokharel said they could not reach a conclusion today, but both sides would continue negotiations.
Pokharel said his party had told the NC that unless the ruling alliance put forth its united views on the MCC deal, there was no need for the main opposition to comment on the issue.
Pokharel reiterated his party's position that the party would not take part in parliamentary proceedings unless its demands were met. MCC headquarters has served a deadline of February 28 to secure parliamentary ratification of the MCC deal.
A Nepali Congress source said that the other two coalition partners - CPN-Maoist Centre and CPN (Unified Socialist) - had hinted that they would ultimately vote to help the government ratify the MCC deal in the HoR.
Nepali Congress leaders had earlier said that one way to address the concerns of the left partners of the ruling coalition was to ratify the MCC deal with clarification.
The left partners of the ruling coalition say that the MCC deal undermines sovereignty and is a part of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy aimed at containing China.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 27, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
