Nepal’s two communist parties discuss party unification

Nepal’s two communist parties—CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN (Unified Socialist)—have started preliminary discussions for a possible unification between the two parties.

Maoist is led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN(US) is led by Madhav Kumar Nepal who was previously associated with CPN-UML. According to leaders, Dahal and Nepal are holding serious talks for a unification. According to a Maoist leader, Dahal has proposed Nepal as a prime minister candidate if the unified party gets a chance of government formation. Maoist has 32 seats in House of Representatives and CPN(US) has 12 seats. Dahal is working to consolidate his position after the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML formed a powerful government excluding both Maoist and CPN(Unified Socialist).