With the UCPN (Maoist)-led 30-party alliance deciding to sit for talks, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala has invited senior leaders from the ruling coalition and the opposition bloc to his official residence in Baluwatar at 9am on Saturday.

Dialogue has been stalled since the Constituent Assembly formed the Questionnaire Committee on January 25 without the consent of the Maoist, Madhesi and Janajati parties.

Leaders from both the blocs said they would sit in talks with the intent of seeking consensus on disputed issues of the constitution.

Ahead of the meeting, PM Koirala and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had discussion in Baluwatar on Friday on how to proceed with the talks. During the meeting, Koirala assured Dahal of completing constitution writing through consensus.

Koirala later briefed Nepali Congress senior leaders on his meeting with Dahal. He expressed his readiness to rethink the ruling parties’ position on federalism and incorporating the opposition parties in the Cabinet if they want.

“Prachandaji is positive about completing the task of constitution writing and flexibility should be adopted from all sides,” NC spokesman Dilendra Prasad Badu quoted the PM as saying.

“Since give and take is a must while committing to settle disputes through talks, we will not stick to our stances. We will not reject any proposal including Cabinet reshuffle if that helps to build consensus,” said Badu.

Top leaders from the ruling NC and CPN-UML and opposition Maoist and Madhesi parties are supposed to sit for talks. Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai is arriving from India on Saturday morning.

The parties, which are at odds over whether to scrap the voting process in the CA before entering into real negotiations, are still sharply divided over the number of federal states, their names and borders.

“They are yet to announce that the voting process will be scrapped to ensure constitution through consensus. Issue-centric negotiations will start thereafter,” said UCPN (Maoist) leader Barshaman Pun.

Talks were broken after the opposition parties attacked ruling leaders while they tried to push through the Questionnaire Committee to put disputed issues to vote despite protests.