All-party meeting begins, to discuss elections for speaker, president

Setopati

Kathmandu, Jan 17

An all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has begun at Baluwatar on Tuesday afternoon.

PM Dahal had called a meeting of all the parties that had given him vote of confidence in Parliament on January 10 to discuss about the elections for speaker of the House of Representatives, president and vice-president.

The meeting includes KP Sharma Oli, Ishwar Pokharel and Shankar Pokharel from CPN-UML, and Sher Bahadur Deuba, Purna Bahadur Khadka, Ram Chandra Paudel and Ramesh Lekhak from Nepali Congress.

CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepal Samajwadi Party Chairman Baburam Bhattarai, Rastriya Swantantra Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane, Nagarik Unmukti Party Chairman Ranjita Shrestha, Janamat Party leader Abdul Khan and independent lawmaker Amresh Kumar Singh are also present in the meeting.

Dahal expanded his Cabinet earlier on Tuesday inducting four new ministers each from UML and Maoist Center and three from Rastriya Swatantra Party.