Kathmandu, June 26:

Civil society leaders have suggested Prime Minister Dr Bauram Bhattarai that he should first strike consensus on solving the present crisis and then give up the office if needed.

A 6-member team of civil society forerunners that included Daman Nath Dhungana, Padma Ratna Tuladhar, Dr Sundar Mani Dixit, Dr Mathura Shrestha, CK Lal and Shyam Shrestha made this suggestion on Tuesday while having a meeting with the Prime Minster at Baluwatar.

Saying that the solution to the present problems was not giving up the post but ensuring promulgation of a new constitution through the Constituent Assembly, the civil society leaders urged the Prime Minister to take initiatives to strike consensus among the political parties for solving the existing problems including the ones related to constitutional amendment for fresh election as announced by the government.

They stressed that the Prime Minister should take the President into confidence in course of his efforts for the consensus. They pointed at the need of facilitators for the dialogue or agreement among the parties.

"We were invited by the Prime Minister for our views to solve present crisis. We advised that initiatives by the Prime Minister were needed at the moment to solve the problems by striking consensus among the political parties," civil society member Shyam Shrestha told The Rising Nepal after the meeting.

Shrestha said that the Prime Minister expressed his confusion regarding the demands of the opposition parties that the PM should immediately give up the position. "I am in fact in confusion. I do not want to remain in the government but I have no alternative," Shrestha quoted the PM as saying.

Shrestha said that the PM urged the civil society leaders to facilitate for an

all-party dialogue to solve the present deadlock.

"We told him that the parties should keep mediators for their talks, they can choose national or international mediators for the sake of confidence," Shrestha said.

He said that they suggested that the PM and the President should work together for finding an outlet to the present crisis. "The PM should inform the President about his initiatives for solution to the present problems. When the parties make agreement, they should not make it in parts but in agenda so that all the issues including the one related to federalism are agreed upon."

Shrestha said that the team suggested the PM that neither the PM nor the President should encroach their limitation which may aggravate the crisis and push the nation to anarchy.