Maoists to be rigid on their stance; no to Koirala as president

Kathmandu, June 17 : The meeting of the central secretariat of the Maoists today authorised the party leadership not to back down from their currently-held positions on disputed issues like the choice of President of the republic power-sharing and army integration.

Senior Maoist leader Mohan Baidya Kiran said that the Maoists have tried to be flexible to the maximum, and now it was the turn of the Nepali Congress to show flexibility.

He said that the party has also decided not to support the calls to make Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala as the President. The party will, instead, back Ramraja Prasad Singh for the position.

The central secretariat also decided that the party's ministers should resign from their positions if no understanding is reached by Tuesday evening.

A crucial meeting of top leaders of the three parties - Maoists, NC and UML - is going to take place today in an attempt to reach the eleventh hour understanding.

Earlier, the parties had promised to end the deadlock before Wednesday when the fourth meeting of Constituent Assembly (CA) is taking place.

ANI