The Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal which had been opposing amendment to the constitution has struck a conciliatory tone following his party’s merger with the Pashupati SJB Rana-led RPP on Monday.

Addressing the first meeting of the united party’s Central Working Committee on Wednesday, Chairman of the newly formed RPP Kamal Thapa said the concerns of Madhesi parties have to be resolved immediately.

Thapa stressed that the genuine issues of the Madhesi parties should be addressed to create an environment conducive for the elections. He was of the view that neither local nor provincial and federal elections would be possible until the regional parties are brought on board.

His remarks come at a time when the government is preparing to register a proposal at Parliament to amend the constitution to which the Madhesi parties have responded positively.

Following the merger with the RPP, which is already in the government, the RPP-N has become a ruling alliance. The party has already announced that it would share rows with the other ruling parties in the Parliament meeting that resumes on Nov 29. Though Thapa has not revealed what would be his party’s position in the amendment bill, his soften stand indicates ‘high possibility’ of the party supporting the amendment process. “There is no doubt we want an end to the current political stalemate,” said Dilnath Giri, a member of the Directive Committee (DC) of the unified RPP. He added that the upcoming Parliamentary Party meeting will decide party’s stand on constitution amendment.

Earlier, the RPP-N had demanded that any amendment to the constitution should also include amendment on secularism, republicanism and federalism.

Should the united RPP—which has 37 lawmakers—decide to stand in favour of amendment, there will be 388 lawmakers—only nine short to ensure a two-third majority. As many as 363 lawmakers out of the total

595 voted for Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal while the RPP-N had stood in opposition.