Nepal's two largest parties to collaborate

The Nepali Congress (NC) and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), which emerged as the first and second largest parties in the recently held Constituent Assembly elections, have decided to move ahead in unison.

The two parties signed a deal Saturday, agreeing to move ahead through consensus and cooperation, Xinhua reported.

"We two parties have agreed to move ahead through mutual understanding and consensus to full the political responsibility," the agreement said.

The two parties are preparing to form a coalition government which is expected to provide a new constitution within a year.

They also decided to hold talks with the Prachanda-led Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M), which emerged as the third largest party.

The Maoists have alleged that the Nepal Army and the Election Commission were involved in the poll-rigging to defeat them in the Nov 19 elections.