The much-touted high level political coordination committee has fallen flat the same day it started its formal job after a senior leader of UML declined to be its member.

Former general secretary of UML Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Former general secretary of UML Madhav Kumar Nepal who was to take over the committee as its coordinator has said that he was not informed about its formation.

“I hear they have included me as a member. I won’t be a member of a committee where there is no participation of Prime Minister,” he said speaking in Jumla on Thursday.

“We will also send our representation at the similar level,” he added.

Instead of taking part in the first meeting of the committee, Nepal left Kathmandu – where he had arrived on Wednesday after foreign visit – for Jumla showing his lack of enthusiasm over its formation.

On the other hand, opposition parties, too, have played down the significance of the committee.

“They are already in the cabinet. So, the separate political committee is meaningless,” said Arjun Narsingh KC, spokesperson of main opposition Nepali Congress (NC).

Earlier, the first meeting of the committee had set its working guidelines and jurisdiction Thursday. The meeting of the committee held at parliamentary party office of the CPN (Maoist) in Singha Durbar adopted the guidelines prepared by big three parties with minor amendments.

The committee will immediately look into efforts made towards improving security situation, implementation of the agreements reached with various agitating groups in the past and ongoing negotiation with the Terai armed groups.

The committee will meet again on Friday to chalk out its initial works. The committee has been formed to coordinate with government to ensure common minimum programs announced during the formation of the new government are implemented effectively. nepalnews.com sd Dec 05 08