Maoists, UML agree to back each other on President, Prime Minister posts

Kathmandu, June 21 : The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) and the Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) have reached an informal agreement to support each other's bid for the posts of the Prime Minister and the President in the next government.

During a meeting here on Friday, both the communist parties agreed to float a joint proposal at Seven-Party alliance (SPA) meeting in accordance with the understanding.

As per the agreement, the UML will support the Maoists for the post of Prime Minister while the Maoists will support a UML candidate for the post of the President.

However, UML general secretary Jhal Nath Khanal refused to divulge the names of candidates being proposed for those positions.

"We are only talking about policies not individuals at this point," Jhal said.

The UML-Maoist meeting took place after the Nepali Congress (NC) showed discontent over the informal agreement between the two parties over the post of President.

Earlier, the NC leaders had said that if the Maoists and UML reached an agreement over the posts of President and Prime Minister then they will not participate in the next government and would assist in drafting the new constitution as the opposition party.

ANI