Coalition leaders meet again to discuss on MCC and election date

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister and Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN -Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and CPN-Unified Socialist chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal have met again while the ruling coalition is striving hard to settle on the issue of approval of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

According to Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, the government spokesperson and Minister for Communication and Information Technology, the leaders trio discussed MCC approval and election date at the Prime Minister’s residence in Baluwatar on Monday morning.

The the issue of MCC has got attention since the alliance agreed to hold local elections in May. The government has not been able to announce the date for the May elections, despite suggestions from the coalition.

Prime Minister Deuba has proposed to approve the MCC along with announcing the date of local elections. Deuba had proposed MCC approval at a meeting of the high-level mechanism on Saturday.

NC and Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) have openly advocated for MCC when some top leaders in Maoist Center and CPN-Unified Socialist leaders have been reiterating on making some changes on the compact prior to approving it.

Senior leaders and diplomats are concerned at the political parties dual stand on MCC.