Kathmandu, August 5:

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today said the unification process of the Nepali Congress (NC) and the Nepali Congress-Democratic (NC-D) will be completed soon.

Talking to journalists before going back to Kathmandu after a three-day rest in Biratnagar, Koirala said unification had been delayed as some minor issues were yet to be sorted out. On NC-D president Sher Bahadur Deuba’s recent statement that he had doubts about the unification of the two parties , Koirala said: “It is only natural that the NC-D president harbours doubts on the issue.Such suspicions are bound to arise until the parties finally unite.

Koirala also said that he is committed to holding the CA elections in November.

Though the PM had called journalists for a press meet here this morning, the meet was cancelled due to his ill health. All other programmes were also cancelled after Koirala fell ill last evening. But he remained busy meeting party cadres at his residence yesterday. “As the PM started having respiratory problems, he has been on oxygen since yesterday evening,” an aide of Koirala said.

“The PM had to be administered oxygen for several times after he complained of breathing problems yesterday,” Koirala’s personal physician, Dr Narayan Kumar, said.

Koirala also met Radhika Pokhrel, widow of VDC secretary Ram Hari Pokhrel. “I demanded that the PM declare my husband a martyr, arrange for free education for my children, compensate our family and provide me a job,” Radhika said.