A meeting of the party’s Standing Committee on Wednesday proposed that the number of states be decreased and the state borders delineation should be based on North-South manner. “The people have suggested federating the country into 5-6 states,” said UML publicity head Yogesh Bhattarai coming out of the meeting, “We have reservation regarding bigger number of states from the beginning.”

The party opined that time should not be spent regarding the demarcation of states. “We cannot give time for state delineation until mid-August ends,” said Bhattarai, “Or we will have to move ahead as per the 16-point agreement.”

Likewise, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Vice Chairman Bhim Rawal briefed the meeting about the progress in constitution writing. The leaders said that inter-party meetings are focused on demarcating less number of states.  

Meanwhile, the CPN-UML has condemned the police excesses against Dalit leaders and activists during a peaceful protest in the Capital on Tuesday.