Formal announcement of the CPN-UML—CPN (Maoist Centre) merger could be delayed further, as leaders of the two left parties have yet to form a panel to carry out preparations for the purpose.

The Party Unity Coordination Committee (PUCC), comprising top leaders of the two parties, had agreed to make the announcement on April 22. The leaders had earlier said that they would form a joint committee to make necessary preparations for the merger announcement.

But with the scheduled merger announcement date only ten days away, chairmen of both the parties are currently away from the Capital.

Chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who has gone to Chitwan, is expected to return on Friday evening, while Prime Minister and Chairman of UML KP Sharma Oli is preparing to leave the Capital for a three-day visit to Rara on Friday morning. The PM will return on Sunday.

“The scheduled PUCC meeting will be delayed by at least a few more days as the PM is leaving for Rara and we are here in Chitwan,” said Jokh Bahadur Mahara, chief personal secretary of Dahal, told the Post over the phone.

With the latest developments the leaders have started questioning whether the announcement of the unification of the two parties would happen on April 22.

“We have not made any decision on party announcement date,” said UML Vice-chairman Bhim Rawal, hinting at the delay in the merger announcement.

A senior member of the PUCC said it was uncertain when the two parties would announce the merger as the meeting of PUCC has already been delayed several times.

The PUCC meeting, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed due to the absence of senior UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal, while the one called for Wednesday was put off after Maoist Centre Chair Dahal fell ill.

“The two leaders have agreed to postpone the PUCC meeting for a few days,” said Mahara.

However, top leaders of both the parties including Chairman Dahal and Narayan Kaji Shrestha of the Maoist Centre and UML’s Jhalanath Khanal said they would try to make the merger announcement on April 22.

The two parties are yet to finalise the power-sharing ratio at the centre as well as other issues.