The UML has decided to create pressure on the NC to restart the voting process, which was halted to bring the Maoist-Madhesi to the talks table.
A meeting of the UML's standing committee on Monday decided to hold 'serious talks' with the NC to restart the voting process, saying that possibility of talks with the Maoist-Madhesi is very slim.
The UML wants to promulgate the new constitution before May 2015 by sorting out the contentious issues through a vote in the Constituent Assembly (CA).
Apparently frustrated with the NC's reluctance to restart the voting process, the UML has also warned of quitting the government. "We joined the government to write a new constitution," said the UML secretary Pradip Gyawali. "If a new constitution is not written, we will quit the government."
As the Maoist-Madhesi refused to sit in for talks saying that the NC-UML sidelined them by initiating the voting process, the CA Chair Subhas Nembang postponed the CA meeting on 12 February for an indefinite period.
However, the Maoist-Madhesi have not rejoined talks with the NC-UML. Instead, they are warning of more street protests. Addressing a mass assembly on last Saturday in Kathmandu, the UCPN (Maoist) Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal said their cadres would now 'seize district headquarters'.
Two days after what was described as a show of strength by the opposition, the UML said it waited too long for the Maoist-Madhesi. "The CA has not met for 20 days now," said Gyawali. "We have waited too long for the opposition. We must go for a vote now."