The main opposition NC has threatened not to vote for endorsement of the bill if it is moved forward without making any changes as demanded by the NC.
Endorsement of the amendment bill by two-thirds of parliament is not possible without support from the NC. The largest party has 207 seats in parliament. The number of effective members in the House at present is 596.
The ruling CPN-UML, however, seems determined to put the bill to a vote at the House sitting on Saturday whether or not the NC supports it.
"The government will table the constitution amendment bill for endorsement at the House meeting tomorrow [Saturday] because we are confident the NC will not vote against it," Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Agni Kharel told Republica.
He said that NC will not vote against the bill because it was registered by the previous NC-led government and tabled in the House for endorsement under tremendous pressures from the same party.
He said the government is flexible about accommodating changes to the bill as proposed by NC or any other lawmaker, as far as possible.
But the NC leaders have been strongly lobbying for a revision in the bill.
At a meeting with Speaker Onsari Gharti and Minister Kharel on Friday afternoon, NC leaders had threatened not to vote for the bill if it was tabled for voting while ignoring the main opposition's demand for a revision.
"We have informed the speaker and the minister that we can't participate in the process of endorsing the bill and extend our support if it is taken forward without any agreement with us," said NC lawmaker Jeevan Pariyar.
According to him, the NC leaders have suggested to the government to revise the bill as proposed by NC lawmakers Bimalendra Nidhi and Farmullah Mansoor.
"We have suggested to the government to make changes in one of the provisions as proposed by Nidhi and in another provision as proposed by Mansoor," said Pariyar. "By doing so we can even accommodate some of the demands of the agitating Madhesi parties."
The leaders said top leaders from the major political parties are scheduled to hold talks on Saturday morning with a view to putting in further efforts to find common ground and resolve the dispute before the parliamentary sitting begins later in the afternoon.
Talks between top leaders from the two sides couldn't yield any result on Friday.
Article-wise deliberations on the bill concluded in parliament, Friday. The bill will be put to a vote after the minister concerned answers queries raised by lawmakers during the deliberations.
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