An extended meeting of the CPN (Maoist Centre) headquarters on Friday decided to continue discussions with the CPN-UML for party unification, concluding that the negotiations so far had been positive.

Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had briefed the leaders on the developments of eight hours of his discussions with UML chief and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli over the past few days.

Leaders claimed that Oli, who was positive on equal shares for the two parties in the unified central committee, had backtracked on the proposal citing objections from other UML leaders including Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Members of the party headquarters had advised Dahal to go for unification only after UML leaders were convinced of a respectable merger.

“Unification will happen on the basis of equality in a respectable and justifiable manner,” said Maoist Spokesperson Pampha Bhusal. (PR)