Two top leaders of the left alliance have decided to endorse the decision of the task force on the candidates for the National Assembly election with minor changes if necessary.

A day after returning from Bangkok, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli had a one-to-one meeting with CPN (Maoist Centre) chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal for three hours. The two leaders also decided to finalise all other issues including the modality for party merger at a meeting of the Party Unification Coordination Committee on Sunday.

Dahal had reached Oli’s residence in Balkot, Bhaktapur, at around 1pm to discuss matters between the two allies. The task force led by Subas Nembang on Wednesday decided to field candidates for only 43 out of 56 seats for the Upper House election scheduled for February 7.

According to Oli’s press coordinator Chetan Adhikari, the two leaders dwelt basically on three major issues including the report of the task force suggesting that 29 candidates will be from the UML and 14 from the Maoist Centre.

The two leaders have agreed to endorse the report with minor changes if necessary. They also discussed in detail formation of provincial governments.

The two leaders would continue talks on Saturday for fine-tuning the agreements and scheduling the meeting of the merger coordination committee.

The committee on Sunday would finalise most of the pressing issues. The discussion was delayed reportedly since UML Chairman Oli was reluctant to hand over the unified party’s helm to Dahal while he takes charge of the new government. The process was stalled also due to Oli’s visit to Bangkok for regular health check-up.

Sources claimed that Dahal sent a message to Oli during his week-long stay in Thailand that he was ready to accept the UML leader’s decision on power-sharing.

Maoist leader Devendra Poudel said the leaders were still discussing ways to manage top leaders in the unified party.