Nepal parties agree on President’s residence

Nearly three months after the landmark Constituent Assembly election, Nepal’s mainstream parties have failed to break the deadlock over the choice of the head of state, a key roadblock to the formation of a new government in the country, but have agreed on the choice of the residence for the president.

Though Nepal’s major political parties have serious differences over the issue of who will be the first president of the country, there was no disagreement in choosing “Sheetal Niwas”, the office of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, as the official residence for the president.

The interim government on Friday decided to convert the foreign ministry office, situated at Maharajgunj on the outskirts of the capital, as the residence of the first head of state.

Nepal’s Constituent Assembly on May 28 declared the erstwhile Hindu kingdom a republic by abolishing the 240-year-old monarchy.