Kathmandu, March 16:

The Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist and Leninist) is scheduled to convene a cadres’ meeting of the Kathmandu Valley on Saturday to mobilise the party’s rank and file for the seven-party alliance’s planned rally on April 8.

Central committee member of the party Rajendra Pandey said the meeting of Valley People’s Movement Coordination Committee chaired by standing committee member Ishwor Pokharel decided to call the cadres’ meeting keeping in mind the April 8 rally.

He said acting general secretary of the party Amrit Kumar Bohara briefed the meeting of the Valley People’s Movement Coordination Committee about the talks being held between the leaders of the seven party alliance and the Maoists in New Delhi.

Sources, however, said that the alliance leaders were persuading the Maoists to call off the indefinite general strike beginning April 3 and announce a unilateral ceasefire.

“The Maoists may withdraw the general strike but not the blockade of the district headquarters that has already paralysed life across the country since Tuesday,” said a CPN-UML leader.

He also said both the sides were busy reviewing the 12-point understanding reached between the parties and the Maoists in November last year.

Acting general secretary Bohara, however, denied having any knowledge about the progress being made in the New Delhi talks.