Senior leaders from Nepali Congress (NC), CPN-UML, UCPN (Maoist) and United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) have said deliberations over forming a national unity government would be held only after resolving the unsettled issues of the new constitution.
However, NC Vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel said disputes related to state restructuring could be settled in stages if all the contentious issues are not settled at one once.He further claimed that major political parties are inching closer to a consensus on the number of provinces.
"Disputes on number of provinces are most likely to be settled. However, opinions diverge on whether to settle all contentious issues related to federalism at one go or keep unresolved issues pending for further discussion," said Poudel emerging from the meeting.
"We are unanimous on settling the political differences on statute prior to engaging on formation of a national unity government," said coordinator of UDMF, Bijay Gachchhadar.
Sources claimed that parties are for forming a commission and entrust it with the task finalizing boundary issues and other unresolved matters. "Our priority is to prepare the first draft of the new constitution by mid-July. Dispute related to the delineation of provinces and other minor issues may be settled even after forwarding the settled issues to the drafting committee," NC Deputy General Secretary Purna Bahadur Khadka told Republica.
Leaders have claimed that formation of a national unity government is likely after mid-July if parties succeed on sorting out political and constitutional differences. The next meeting of the major four parties is scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Related story
Draft Federal Civil Service Bill: Govt employees don't have to...
