Four parties tussle over plum portfolios A meeting of the four major parties held Sunday morning to decide the make-up of future interim government ended inconclusively. The meeting ended without any important decision as the leaders of the Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (UML), CPN (Maoist) and NC (Democratic) repeated their claims on important portfolios. Smaller four parties were invited for an eight-party meeting at 10 am. However, as the major four parties failed to reach consensus on distribution of portfolios, the eight-party meeting is uncertain today. The leaders of smaller parties have gathered at the Prime Minister's official residence in Baluwatar while the leaders of the top four parties have left the venue. The NC has been claiming senior deputy prime minister along with plum portfolios like finance, defence and home while the Maoists are adamant on their demand for deputy prime minister and home ministry and the UML wants finance ministry. NC-D has also demanded four ministries currently held by it. The four parties, however, agreed that other four smaller parties will be given single portfolios each. nepalnews.com ia Mar 25 07