The meeting of the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party (NCPP) has elected party president, Girija Prasad Koirala, as its new leader.

The meeting of the NCPP held at the parliamentary party office at Singha Durbar on Thursday elected Koirala unanimously for the post.

Sher Bahadur Deuba, who is currently president of the NC (Democratic), was the leader of the NCPP when the House of Representatives was dissolved on May 22, 2002.

Ramchandra Tiwari, member of the reinstated HoR, told Nepalnews that the meeting discussed about the agenda to be presented in the parliament session.

The meeting decided to move ahead with the consensus among the seven political parties, he added.

The seven party alliance (SPA) had earlier nominated 85-year-old Koirala to head the new government.

In its meeting, the NCPP decided on two main agendas; holding elections to the constituent assembly and formation an all-party commission to identify the victims of people’s movement 2006.

The meeting also decided to table a proposal in the parliament to honour and provide appropriate compensation to the people injured during the pro-democracy movement and family members of the people who were killed during the movement.

This was the first meeting of the NCPP after a gap of four years. The meeting also welcomed the unilateral ceasefire announced by the Maoists and concluded that the new government should reciprocate it.

The Maoists had announced a similar truce in September last year and later extended it by a month, but withdrew it early this year saying that the government did not reciprocate it.

Members of the NC (D) did not take part in the NCPP meeting.

The NC (D), a breakaway faction of the Nepali Congress, is not registered at the HoR as a separate party and has 40 parliamentarians in its fold.

As per the Parliament Act, to be registered as a separate party in the parliament, any breakaway faction needs at least 40 percent of the total MPs of the parent party. The NC had 113 seats in the erstwhile parliament.

Though the NC (D) is yet to be registered as a separate party in the parliament, it said it will present itself as a separate party as per consensus reached in the meeting of the SPA. nepalnews.com pb Apr 27 06