CPN-UML Chairman and Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) Chairman Mahantha Thakur have met on Thursday.
The meeting at Baluwatar was also attended by members of the task forces the parties have formed to discuss possible alliance between them. "We discussed how to take the agenda we have raised forward," JSP leader Laxman Lal Karna, who attended the meeting, told Setopati. "We didn't talk anything about the government."
PM Oli had earlier formed a task force including UML deputy parliamentary party leader Subash Chandra Nembang, Bishnu Paudel and PM's foreign affairs advisor Rajan Bhattarai for dialogue with JSP. JSP, meanwhile, reciprocated forming a task force of Sarbendra Nath Shukla and Karna.
JSP is currently divided on whether to support Oli or not. JSP leaders Baburam Bhattarai and Upendra Yadav, coming from erstwhile Federal Socialist Forum Nepal, have publicly demanded toppling of Oli government while leaders from the erstwhile Rashtriya Janata Party like Thakur and Rajendra Mahato are negotiating with Oli. Erstwhile RJP leaders themselves are also not united in support of Oli with leaders like Mahendra Raya Yadav vehemently against that.
Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba had proposed to form the next government under him during the meeting of NC, CPN (Maoist Center) and JSP he called at his residence in Budhanilkantha Friday afternoon. But JSP sought more time for internal discussion to take a decision even as Maoist Center, that has been repeatedly proposing to make Deuba PM to topple the Oli government, immediately supported the proposal.
JSP Chairmen Bhattarai and Yadav had also met Deuba on Tuesday.
