Top leaders continue negotiations on state restructuring, form of governance

The major political parties are set to hold top level meeting on Friday as well to negotiate on the thorny issues related to constitution drafting process- mainly the state restructuring as yesterday’s meeting ended without making any headway after the UCPN (Maoist) proposed 10 federal states based on ethnicity and geography.

The top leaders of the UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress, CPN (UML) and Madhesi Front are scheduled to continue talks Friday afternoon at the Constituent Assembly (CA) building.

In yesterday’s meeting, the Maoist party had put forth fresh proposal of 10-state model.

The Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML have rejected the proposal saying that it is against the agreement reached among the major parties to carve six to eight federal states during Hattiban meeting.

Meanwhile, CPN-UML has called central committee meeting for Friday to form its position on the Maoist proposal.

Although the parties have reached tentative understanding on electoral system, citizenship and judicial system they are yet to formalise it. They are still clearly divided on the most contentious issue - the federal model as well as form of governance. nepalnews.com