Kathmandu, April 30

The meeting of the three major political parties and the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) held Monday to resolve contentious issues of federalism concluded inconclusively as the parties did not make any change in their previous stances.

The meeting of the UCPN-Maoist, Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML and UDMF held at the Secretariat of Army Integration Special Committee at New Baneshwor, could not strike any deal on state restructuring.

Instead, the leaders hinted at resolving the issues through majority votes in the Constituent Assembly.

Today’s meeting ended without holding formal discussion on the disputed issues regarding the form of governance, they said.

The parties are scheduled to seek an ultimate meeting point on state restructuring, mainly on their numbers, boarders and name of federal units, and the form of governance Tuesday morning at a meeting with the members of Dispute Resolution Sub-Committee under the Constitutional Committee at Singha Durbar.

Chairman of the UCPN-Maoist Puspha Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ said that the parties would not immediately go for voting.

Chairman of UDMF Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar said that discussions were focused to forge consensus.

"We will meet again tomorrow and reach a consensus regarding the disputed issues," he said.

He said that the parties were close to resolve the contentious issues through dialogues but they differed over the procedures, Gachchhadar said.

According to him, the ruling parties stressed the resolution of the contentious issues regarding federalism and form of governance at first while the opposition parties stressed the formation of a consensus government.

He said that talks to form the new consensus government would begin only after sorting out all contentious issues of the constitution.

NC leader Arjun Narasingh KC said that although the parties failed to find any meeting point on disputed issues, they were closer to finalise the contentious issues of the new constitution with majority votes.

Referring to the formation of the new government, KC said that NC would take any decision to form the national consensus government if it was not formed immediately.

He said that the latest activities of the Maoist party showed that they did not want to promulgate the new constitution.

NC general secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula said that the parties discussed about the two options of resolving the contentious issues-- either through consensus or majority votes.

He said that as the parties had limited time to resolve the disputed issues by majority votes, they focused on how to find a common point of consensus.

"All parties have positive understandings of forming the consensus government led by NC before May 27. If it cannot be possible, mistrust among the parties will increase," Sitaula said.

However, he made it clear that no trust motion would not be registered against the current government.

He said that the consensus government would be formed within a few days.

CPN-UML chairman Jhala Nath Khanal said the leaders could not find any way out as they stuck to their own stands.

"Stances of the parties have made the promulgation of the new constitution within May 27 more challenging," Khanal said.

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday morning at Dispute Resolution Sub-committee Hall at Singha Durbar.