The all-party meeting called by the prime minister on Sunday failed to make any headway towards ending the main opposition party CPN-UML’s obstruction of Parliament.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had convened a meeting of parties represented in Parliament to discuss the obstruction that has paralysed the proceedings of both the chambers for nearly a month.

Santosh Pariyar, chief whip of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), said Sunday’s meeting concluded on a “positive note” with an understanding to find a solution on Monday as the UML chair KP Sharma Oli could not attend it “due to an illness.” “Most probably, things will be settled at the next meeting, by Monday, allowing the House to resume on Tuesday,” Pariyar said.

UML’s deputy leader of the parliamentary party Subas Nembang and chief whip Padam Giri represented the main opposition at the meeting held at the prime minister’s office in Singha Durbar.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire has postponed the meeting of the House of Representatives to Tuesday. Earlier, following the obstruction on August 14, Speaker Ghimire had postponed the House meeting until Sunday.

During Sunday’s all-party meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha briefed leaders about the ongoing investigation into the gold smuggling case and asked the leaders to wait for 15 days until the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police completes its investigation into the case.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Dahal had pledged to resume House business from Sunday, saying he has been making efforts to convince the main opposition.

The all-party meeting was attended by Rabi Lamichhane besides Pariyar from the Swatantra Party, chair of Rastriya Prajatantra Party Rajendra Lingden, Anita Devi Sah of the Janamat Party and Rajkishor Yadav from the Janata Samajbadi Party.

Nepali Congress chief and parliamentary party leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka, and the Maoist Centre’s chief whip Hitaraj Pande were also present at the meeting.

According to leaders, Home Minister Shrestha said a high-level probe panel could be formed if parties don’t agree with the report of the CIB.

“Both the main opposition and the ruling parties seemed somewhat flexible during today’s meeting,” Pariyar told the Post. “I’m hopeful we will find a way out in the next meeting.”

The leaders of the parties represented in Parliament had agreed that they must resume House business at the earliest.

This is the third time the meeting of the political parties has failed to come to any conclusion to ensure the resumption of the House meetings. But leaders say the major political parties have felt the heat as all the parties and people have started to create pressure on both the main opposition and the ruling parties to find a solution.

According to leaders present at the meeting, Prime Minister Dahal said the government was ready to form a high-level probe panel to investigate all the corruption cases and not only the gold smuggling right from their roots.

On Saturday, UML’s whip Mahesh Bartaula told the Post that his party faced extreme pressure from lawmakers “who have been denied their right to raise issues of public suffering caused by natural disasters and the deaths of cattle from lumpy skin disease.” He added that his party was considering allowing lawmakers to speak while continuing to obstruct the House from doing other businesses.

Meanwhile, President Ramchandra Paudel has called an all-party meeting for Tuesday to discuss the same issue. He had earlier this month held meetings with Prime Minister Dahal, Speaker Ghimire, upper house chair Ganesh Timilsina and the main opposition leader Oli with the aim to end the deadlock.