Kathmandu, October 17:

The Nepali Congress (NC) and the Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (NWPP) leaders have accused the CPN-UML leadership of disrupting the talks between the top leaders of the eight parties by placing partisan interests before collective interests.

While NWPP supremo Narayan Man Bijukchhe, talking to the THT, accused the CPN-UML leadership of insisting on referendum to decide the fate of monarchy as part of the bargaining chip, NC leader, Laxman Ghimire flayed the demand concerning referendum as against the spirit of the House of Representatives Proclamation. Ghimire also accused the CPN-UML of coming up as a “stumbling block” which has finally disrupted the ongoing high-level talks by taking a rigid stance on the need to have referendum to decide the fate of monarchy.

Bijukchhe put all the blame for disrupting the high-level talks on the CPN-UML by resorting to have referendum as a “bargaining chip”. “The stance has got to do with trying to bag some major posts and portfolios. They also want to have chief of the NHRC in their quota,” he said.

But CPN-UML senior leader Keshav Badal, billed the accusation as “immature”.