Another meeting of the ruling coalition partners held at Baluwatar in a last-ditch effort to find consensus on how to deal with the Millennium Challenge Corporation-Nepal Compact also remained inconclusive as CPN (Unified Socialist) sought two days to take a decision.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who appears committed to tabling it in Parliament, agreed to wait until Sunday.

With this, the MCC compact will not be tabled at Parliament on Friday.

“We requested the leaders to wait until Sunday to table the MCC because our Standing Committee meeting has been scheduled for Saturday,” said Madhav Kumar Nepal, chairman of the CPN (Unified Socialist) after the meeting held at Baluwatar. “Prime Minister Deuba accepted our proposal. So, MCC will not be tabled today.”

Friday’s meeting was held to make one more effort to find consensus on the US grant agreement after Thursday’s talks ended inconclusively.

“Today we had a brief meeting on taking the MCC compact to a conclusion by discussing it at the sovereign Parliament,” Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, government’s spokesperson, told reporters after the meeting. “We will sit again at 10am on Sunday.”

Ahead of the meeting, top leaders of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist) and Janata Samajbadi Party had met at Dahal’s residence at Khumaltar to chart out their strategy.

“Our position is clear,” a senior Maoist Centre. “It is impossible to table MCC in present circumstances. We will communicate our position to Prime Minister Deuba.”

After the coalition partners failed to find a common ground on Thursday, Deuba had made a dash for Balkot to meet CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli.

The general understanding is Deuba and Oli would join hands to move the MCC compact in Parliament, but before that their parties will attempt to unseat Speaker Agni Sapkota who is viewed as a major obstacle in MCC tabling.

A leader close to Deuba said Congress and UML will be left with no option than to first unseat the Speaker to clear the way for tabling of the compact.

The Deuba-Oli meet has made the Maoist Centre even more suspicious, as it is trying hard not to break the coalition while continuing to oppose MCC.

The MCC compact is an American grant worth $500 million which Nepal can implement for electricity transmission lines and road maintenance. Its parliamentary ratification is a must for Nepal to implement the compact.