Prachanda "The parties will continue efforts to forge understanding. "The talks are moving ahead. It will be held again on Saturday,"

The talks among the top leaders of four big parties broke down, Friday evening, after they failed to reach an understanding to form the new government even as the extended deadline provided by the president to Maoists to forge such agreement expired

The top leaders of four big parties – Nepali Congress (NC), Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), Maoists and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) – had resumed their talks late in the afternoon at Ministry of Peace but they could not reach to any agreement.

According to Maoist chairman Prachanda', the parties will continue efforts to forge understanding. "The talks are moving ahead. It will be held again on Saturday,"
Prachanda said.

However, MJF coordinator Upendra Yadav told reporters that the issue of leadership of the government could now be decided by the Constituent Assembly (CA). Earlier, the president was also elected through the CA.

"The talks could not succeed within the time prescribed by the president because of the three bigger parties. They have not yet finalised Common Minimum Programme (CMP), code of conduct or even who should lead the government," Yadav claimed.

The UML general secretary Jhal Nath Khanal said the parties will continue efforts to find understanding. "Such efforts can also be made from within CA," he said.

NC vice president Ram Chandra Poudel also sounded optimistic. "We could not reach to understanding due to lack of time. We are discussing on three fronts – creation of environment of trust, finalisation of CMP and division of portfolio," he said.

With the failure of the talks on Friday, the efforts to form a government of national consensus – as urged by the president – have also broken down.

Analysts expect the president to make another call to the parties to show the majority in the CA and form the government.