A day after Pushpa Kamal Dahal was heard on a leaked audio tape telling party cadres that plans are underway for a decisive people’s revolt, the Maoists have publicly reaffirmed their commitment to democracy. The Himalayan Times reports:

Baburam Bhattarai said, “it’s not capturing state power as Prachanda said, but attaining power in a democratic way and not through any sort of conspiracy. We should not interpret it otherwise.”

The party also formally endorsed Dahal as the prime minister in any future Maoist-lead government.  In yesterday’s audio tape, Dahal spoke of differences with Baburam Bhattarai, who he claimed is India’s choice for PM.

But, all this aside, the big three party leaders seem to be inching towards a deal. They will meet today to fix the number of Maoists ex-combatants to integrate into the army and the criteria according which integration will take place.  An informal agreement has already emerged. Republica reports:

Another member of the committee told Republica that the leaders have already agreed informally to integrate 3000-5000 combatants into national security forces.

According to the source, those willing to join national security forces will have to meet standard norms, including education.

The meeting comes after Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal floated an action plan on Tuesday to complete PLA integration by April 30. Republica reports:

A source told Republica that the plan, in the initial phase, offers the combatants to choose among politics, integration and rehabilitation.

[…] Those combatants who want to be rehabilitated in society will be offered skill-based training, formal and informal education, said the source. The plan is silen about providing economic incentive to such combatants though the Agreement on the Monitoring of the Arms and Armies (AMMAA) says the combatants can be offered economic rehabilitation packages.

In other news, the Bir Hospital shutdown is set to continue after Bishwa Raj Joshi, registrar of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) resigned. The Kathmandu Post reports:

Dr. Joshi resigned after the Health Minister asked official of NAMS and Bir Hospital to resign from their respective posts as they could not “manage the hospital properly.”