Maoists, CPN (Unity Centre) 'close' to merger

CPN (Maoist) and CPN (Unity Centre-Masal) have said they are in the final stage of unification.

Issuing a joint statement Tuesday, Maoist chairman Prachanda and Unity Centre-Masal general secretary Narayan Kaji Shrestha 'Prakash' said the two parties have 'agreed' to merge and that homework for finalising the unification process is on.

According to the joint statement, the two parties have decided to form a committee to oversee the unification process, most importantly the organisational changes after the unification. However, no timeline has been fixed for the merger.

In the statement, the two leaders stressed that unity among the left parties is necessary to overthrow monarchy and establish "people-oriented republic" in the country.

The unification process between the two communist parties continues to hang fire for quite sometime now. Earlier, sources had said the merger was delayed with some central leaders of the Unity Centre-Masal refusing to "hand over" their properties to the party - something all the central Maoist leaders are said to have already done. nepalnews.com Mar 25 08