CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Wednesday said  unification of the two left parties would be done by mid-May. His prediction comes a day after he raised contentious issues between the two left parties that have delayed their merger.

 Speaking to reporters at Bharatpur Airport on Wednesday Dahal said the unification was not possible on April 22 as they need to discuss some major issues.

“We have started serious discussion on the two reports of the task forces only from Tuesday. We need some more time to finalise some issues and therefore we would not announce the merger on April 22,” Dahal said.

He said the parties would announce the new date of unification after talks with Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN-UML KP Sharma Oli.

Dahal had asked questions seeking clarity on responsibilities of dual leadership, methods of electing leaders in the unity convention, policies and ideology of the merged outfit during the Party Unity Coordination Committee (PUCC) meeting held on Tuesday.

According to Dahal, after the PUCC made a written request to two top leaders to sort out issues including the how to present ‘People’s War’ and ‘People’s Revolution’ in statute, deciding the election symbol and modalities of merging the central, provincial and district committees; the two leaders would finalise them after discussions.

“There is no confusion among leaders of both the parties on People’s War and People’s Revolution,” he said, and added the two leaders would prepare separate lists and would select suitable leaders for the central committee.

Dahal said the PUCC meeting also discussed the working style of Prime Minister Oli. “Our concern was on how the prime minister transferred secretaries. It would have been better if such decisions were taken through democratic ways,” he said.

Senior UML leader and former PM Madhav Kumar Nepal, who is also a member of PUCC, claimed that the unification would happen by April-end.

Addressing a political training at Bardibas of Mahottari, leader Nepal said no one could avert the unification of the UML and Maoist Centre.