Kathmandu, June 6:

Nepal Sadbhawana Party led by Anandi Devi (NSP-A) and the NSP led by Laxman Lal Karna are likely to announce merger soon, an NSP-A leader said today.

“The central committees of both the parties are positive on the unification,” Anil Kumar Jha told this daily. The parties had on May 7 formally agreed on the merger. The central committee meeting of the NSP (A), which is on for the last three days, is discussing the “process and procedures” of the merger, Jha said. The meeting is likely to continue tomorrow also. Both the parties have agreed to keep Anandi Devi the president and Laxman Lal Karna the senior vice-president of the unified NSP.

“What has remained is the endorsement of the decision by the central committees of both the parties,” Jha added. The national convention of the unified party will be held after the formal merger.

The party had split early in 2003 after a row between leaders over the then NSP president Badri Prasad Mandal’s decision to join the Lokendra Bahadur Chand-led government as deputy prime minister.