KATHMANDU: The decision of the Nepali Congress (NC) to keep intact the five-party alliance until the upcoming parliamentary and provincial elections has enthused other coalition partners.

With this, the Left political parties have initiated efforts to form an election-centric “Socialist Center” to face the upcoming elections among the communist parties.

Even though the parties were engaged in an informal discussion about forming the Socialist Center for a couple of days, NC’s decision regarding the ruling alliance has enthused them to intensify the discussion on the issue.

Left leaders, including Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda”, Maoist leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Unified Socialist Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal, its senior leader Jhalnath Khanal, and coordinator of the Rastriya Ekta Abhiyan, Bamdev Gautam, on Tuesday concluded that they need to move forward by uniting the communist forces by keeping the alliance with Nepali Congress intact.

Likewise, the United Socialist – a partner in the ruling alliance – has also decided to take initiatives for Left unity by keeping the ruling coalition intact.

Meanwhile, speculations are that the Left parties’ Socialist Center may even break its alliance with the Nepali Congress before the elections.

It should also be noted that Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, who has been ousted by the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), also discussed the issue of forming a Socialist Center with Prachanda on Tuesday.

However, Dr. Bhattarai, who is yet to decide on the issue, is in favor of giving continuity to discussions to decide the strategy of the Socialist Center.

Meanwhile, speculations are that the Left parties’ Socialist Center may even break its alliance with the Nepali Congress before the elections.

Observers have to say that the decision to form a Socialist Center can be a strategy to forge an electoral alliance among the Communist parties, bypass the Nepali Congress, and start bargaining for seats in the elections.

“This can be a bargaining chip,” a leader said as the coalition leaders have been expressing dissatisfaction over the outcome of the local elections despite the electoral alliance.

Even a section of the Nepali Congress has been demanding that the party should face the elections alone.

NC leader, Dr. Shekhar Koirala, who has been pointing fingers at the leadership, was against the idea of forging an electoral alliance in the local level elections held in June.

United Socialist Chairman Nepal, too, is dissatisfied with the outcome of the local-level election.