Kathmandu, May 2:

The Nepal Sadbhawana Party-Anandidevi (NSP-A) today constituted a three-member talks team led by party joint general secretary Anil Kumar Jha to initiate dialogue with the Nepal Sadbhawana Party (NSP).

Talking to this daily, Jha said he contacted NSP president Laxman Lal Karna and sought NSP’s latest stance on unification as soon as he was given the responsibility for holding talks. The two other members of the talks team are Kasim Siddhiqqi and Surendra Kurmi.

“We have decided to initiate talks at the earliest, most probably from tomorrow, once we get the nod of the NSP,” Jha said, adding that Karna expressed eagerness for unification during the conversation.

Central leader Sarita Giri said that the NSP-A was “willing to hold dialogue with all the parties in conflict, including the Goit-led Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha (JTMM), to create a conducive environment for holding constituent assembly elections.

The Karna-led NSP had sent a letter to NSP-A some six months ago expressing its “interest in party unification”.

The party had split in April 2003 after the then party president Badri Prasad Mandal joined the Lokendra Bahadur Chand-led government as the deputy prime minister.