Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba met CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal and chairman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Pashupati Shumsher Rana, on Saturday.

The prime minister and Nepal held a parley at the latter’s residence at Koteshwor. Deuba refused to talk to the media, but Nepal said he informed the prime minister on his party’s views, saying that peace talks with the Maoists should be the new government’s first priority.

“I told him about the UML agenda,” said Nepal, adding, that it is time to counter the effects of ‘regression’ and move forward with a political consensus.

According to an UML source, Deuba asked Nepal to give names of UML leaders to be inducted into the council of ministers, however Nepal asked Deuba to await the decision of UML’s standing committee.

Similarly, Deuba went to Rana’s residence with the same proposal. According to sources, the chairman of the RPP, assured that his party is ready to join the government. During the meeting, the prime minister also inquired about reactions to his Wednesday’s address to the nation.