A meeting between the UCPN (Maoist) and the Nepali Congress leaders held on Thursday ended without any sign of consensus on finding a way out of the protracted deadlock anytime soon.

In the meeting held at NC president Sushil Koirala's Maharajgunj residence, Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal urged the NC leadership to allow the government to present the budget for the remaining period of the current fiscal year. He also asked the NC to join the current government to give it the shape of a unity government.

NC leaders were quick to reject Dahal's proposal. "They said that Baburam Bhattarai's government be turned into unity government. We rejected the proposal and ended the meeting," NC vice president Ram Chandra Poudel told reporters after the meeting.

Poudel also said the NC was firm in its position that fresh Constituent Assembly election should be conducted by a new government and that it was not ready to allow the current government to present the budget. nepalnews.com