Political deadlock to end on Dec 13: Prachanda

Kathmandu, Dec 12: The festering political deadlock in Nepal would be resolved by tomorrow, Maoist Chairman Prachanda said today.

While speaking at a function, Mr Prachanda said intensive bilateral, tripartite and multilateral talks were being held by the seven party alliance and they were expected to reach an agreement by tomorrow evening, he said. Saying that the parties were narrowing down the differences, he added that even the Nepali Congress (NC) was moving ahead with the Maoist demand for pronouncing the nation a republic and seemed flexible on the issue of adopting a proportional representation electoral system.

Reiterating his demand for the restructuring of the government, Mr Prachanda said there should be an agreement on creating the post of the Deputy Prime Minister, the major ministries should be reshuffled and that the government must give an impression of a coalition government.

Referring to the Madhesi leaders who left their parties and the parliament in the name of Madhes problems, Chairman Prachanda said that it was not good to set up parties on the basis of geography and ethnicity.

''If the Madhes leaders had left their parties solely for Madhesi causes then we urged them to join our party,'' the Maoist supremo said, adding that the point of view of other major parties was not positive towards Madhes.

UNI