No headway yet on complex issues

A meeting of the big three parties - UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and UML - and Madhesi Front Saturday could not make any progress towards settling the key issues of the constitution, chiefly the state restructuring and form of governance.

The discussion held at the Constituent Assembly building in the evening proved merely the repetition of the Hattiban Resort meeting with the parties reiterating their respective positions even as they held several rounds of bilateral negotiations -- especially between the Maoists and the NC -- after that, claiming that information agreement had already emerged between them on a number of issues.

However, they decided to continue 'comprehensive' talks to arrive at a common point by Sunday when the five-day deadline set by the CA ends.

The disputes will be decided through voting in the CA if the parties failed to settle the issues within the deadline.

The Interim Constitution will have to be amended in order to shorten the procedures to draft the constitution in view of the limited time. nepalnews.com