Nepalnews.com Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd.

PM Koirala and Deuba talk about expediting Congress unity

Prime Minister and president of Nepali Congress (NC) Girija Prasad Koirala met with president of NC-Democratic Sher Bahadur Deuba, Wednesday morning, to talk about expediting the unification of the two parties.

On the eve of the crucial Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting of NC, which is slated to be held on Thursday, PM Koirala and Deuba had met in Baluwatar.

Congress sources have said that the two leaders have agreed to proceed with unification through their respective taskforces to settle the issue of unifying district/local level party units and sister organisations. During the meeting, members of taskforces of the parties – which were formed to negotiate the actual unificiation process – were also present.

On Tuesday, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, co general secretary of NC, had said that most issues related with unification have already been settled. "There is no dispute in continuing making Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala as the president of the unified party. Our founding member and senior leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai comes second in the party hierarchy," he said, adding that Sher Bahadur Deuba, president of NC-D, will come third in line followed by Sushil Koirala, who will be made acting president of the unified Congress.

The two Congress parties had split five years ago after then Prime Minister Deuba dissolved the elected House of Representatives and announced fresh election, which was later abandoned only to allow the King to take over the executive power on October 4, 2002. nepalnews.com sd Aug 29 07