NEW CONDITION SET BY PM Kathmandu, 18 Dec.: Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai has said that elections to the Constituent Assembly (CA) should be fixed prior to a consensus on prime ministerial candidate, RSS reports.. All parties should focus on holding fresh elections by mid-May, 2013 by giving up any prejudice, the Prime Minister said while addressing a programme organised in the capital on the occasion of centenary of Dilliraman Regmi. Prime Minister Bhattarai said, "Let's begin talks on holding fair, impartial and independent CA elections as early as possible. But, an irrelevant discussion is continuing on the next prime minister prior to the elections. This has pushed the country towards a critical situation." The Prime Minister also said that consensus and CA elections were not possible as the parties were holding talks with a focus on partisan interest despite talking much on consensus rhetoric. He urged the leaders to maintain a republic, federalism, secularism and writing a democratic constitution with spirit of inclusiveness. Prime Minister Bhattarai said that he has understood Regmi as an honest politician and a scholarly historian. The Prime Minister also recalled the series of serious discussions he had on contemporary issues and Nepal's history before starting the people's war in 1996. Dr Bhattarai said that late Regmi did a great job by handing over his entire property to the state. Also speaking at the programme, Education Minister Dinanath Sharma said that the education ministry is working to transform the Dilliraman-Kalyani Regmi Memorial Library into Dilliraman Regmi Foundation. On the occasion, Dr Tulsiram Vaidhya, and former chairmen of the Library Mahesh Kumar Upadhyay, Dr Bishnu Hari Nepal and Dr Jung Bahadur Giri were feted for carrying out study on late the Regmi. Nnnn CHINA TO EXPAND HIGHWAY TO 10-LANE Kaathmandu, 18 Dec.:The nine-kilometer Kalanki-Koteswor road in Kathmandu is to be expanded to a 10-lane road with grant assistance of the Government of China, RSS reports. An agreement to expand the section of the ring road was signed here on Tuesday between the Department of Roads and Shanghai Construction Group. Director General of the Department of Roads Dinkar Sharma and Deputy Director General of Sanghai Construction Group Shen Caxing signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organization. The expansion work would begin within the next three months as per an agreement reached in principle to expand the ring road during the official visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to Kathmandu in January earlier this year. The expansion is estimated to cost Rs. 4 billion and it would include a four-lane each road on the left and the right, and one lane each for cyclists and pedestrian with three overhead bridges in between, according to Director General Sharma. "Some 200 major workers and necessary equipment will be brought here from China and as it would take at least two months to make arrangements for their accommodation, the work will begin after three months", added Sharma quoting a section of the bilateral agreement. nnnn