CHITWAN: CPN Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that the process to form the new government will begin from February 18.

Speaking at a presser organized by Press Centre, Bharatpur chapter, at Bharatpur Airport on Friday, Dahal said that the process will start as soon as Election Commission submits the name list of parliamentarians to the President.

“EC has informed that it will submit the name list between February 14 to 17. After they submit the name list to President, we will start the process to form the new government,” said Dahal.

Likewise, Dahal also informed that he wants the process of the government formation and party unification to go side by side.  “My wish is to complete the talks of party unification before formation of government. But if that is not possible, I want both the processes to go side by side,” informed Dahal.

He clarified that the party unification with CPN-UML is not getting delayed due to issues on power sharing and posts division, adding that it has not been as easy as forging an alliance for election.

However, Dahal said that the talks between two parties have been going positively and that the formation of unification modality is at its final stage. “The main issue is to narrow down ideological differences and sort out issues related to organisational structure of the unified party,” said Dahal.

“Party unification is not confined to agreement between two party chairmen only, the cadres must be happy about the process too,” added Dahal.

On the same occasion, Dahal also said that India's Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj's visit to Nepal has not affected party unification talks in any way.