Leaders of the ruling seven-party alliance (SPA) have blamed their top leaders for stagnation in the peace process.
Speaking at a programme in Kathmandu Friday, second-rung leaders of the SPA said top leaders had repeatedly shown their weakness by fixing the date of summit talks in a hurry and then postponing them.

Nepali Congress general secretary Ram Chandra Poudel said the leadership of the SPA has failed to act responsibly. “Koirala (Prime Minister Girija Prasad) and Prachanda must be serious about the peace process,” he said, adding that delay in the peace process would further complicate the situation.

Similarly, CPN (UML) leader Bharat Mohan Adhikari said the postponement of the prescheduled summit meeting yesterday signalled lack of preparation on the part of the SPA regarding agendas of talks.

“It is unlikely that there will be any serious homework within the SPA in the coming 10 days,” he said and suggested the top leaders not to plan summit talks in haste. He also said the peace process was not moving in the right direction because of PM Koirala.

Dr Narayan Khadka, central leader of the Nepali Congress (Democratic), said things were getting entangled due to stagnation in the peace process. “Both sides have sat for talks with a mentality to make the other side bow down. This is what is causing delay,” he opined.

The leaders were reacting to the postponement of talks between the top leaderships of the SPA and the Maoists until October 8. A meeting between PM Koirala and Maoist supremo Prachanda hours before the scheduled talks on Thursday had decided to put off the summit talks until October