Despite differences over ‘monarchy’ and federalism, the Lokendra Bahadur Chand-led Rastriya Prajatantra Party and the Kamal Thapa-headed RPP-Nepal jointly announced on Monday that the two forces would unify as a single party by the end of July.

The announcement came after the two sides signed an eight-point deal for unification on Sunday. Both the parties had formed their own dialogue teams that came up with the framework.

According to RPP-N Chairman Thapa, the central committees of both the parties will propose unification before their formal union within the next three weeks.

“The unification is part of the campaign to make the party stronger,” Thapa said at a press conference on Monday. Chand argued that the merger was the need of the current political situation. Now the main challenge for the two parties is to find a meeting point on the RPP-N agenda of reinstatement of monarchy. As per the agreement, the general convention to be held by mid-April after unification will find a solution on the issues including federalism.

According to a source, the merger decision was reached on condition that Thapa will become the president and the RPP will get the executive president. The central committee will have 150 representatives from each outfit.