An all-party meeting held in Hetauda, the provisional headquarters of Province 3, on Monday agreed to decide the name and the capital city of the province through the Provincial Assembly meeting on December 23.

Earlier, the Provincial Assembly had decided to hold talks with political parties to decide the name and capital of the province through consensus.

To facilitate the talks, the Business Advisory Committee on November 24 had deferred the deliberation to decide the issue of provincial name and the capital city.

As the parties failed to arrive at consensus, the issue is to be decided by the Provincial Assembly, the all-party meeting convened by Speaker Sanu Kumar Shrestha has decided.

  Chief Minister Dormani Poudel, Nepali Congress leader Indra Bahadur Baniya, Nepal Communist Party leader and Minister for Internal Affairs and Law Shalikram Jammakattel, Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmaker Rita Majhi, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Loktantik lawmaker Rina Gurung, Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party leader Srijana Saiju, Minister of Industry and Tourism Arun Nepal and Bibeksheel Sajha Party leader Shova Shakya, among others, had participated in the meeting.

A leader told the Post that most of the leaders were for designating Hetauda as the provincial capital.

However, Shakya demanded that Kavre should be the capital of Province 3.

The meeting has decided to table the report submitted by the parliamentary committee formed to study possible capital and name of the province for voting.

The committee has recommended Hetauda, Kavre, Chitwan, Nuwakot and Bhaktapur as the possible capital of Province 3.

The provincial government has been charged with trying to avoid discussion on the issue in parliament.

As per the constitutional provision, the Provincial Assembly can designate capital and name the province through two-third majority.