The meeting of major political parties held today to look for consensus on contentious constitutional issues has ended inconclusively. Following a bipartite dialogue to better the relationship among the parties, Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Unified CPN-Maoist and leaders of Madheshi Front exited firm on their respective stances despite efforts for a group discussion. The meeting held today ended on an inconclusive note as both the fronts were firm on their stances showing no flexibility on federalism for constitution endorsement. Unified Maoist and Madheshi Parties in the meeting today declined the suggestion of Congress and UML to base the discussions on the 9-point common proposal. Following the meeting, the leaders of Unified Maoist said that they now had no alternatives to protest programs as the ruling parties were still at a high of their majority. Saying that the possibilities of agreement were now minimum, they informed of proceeding with the agitation programs. BITE...
Meanwhile, Congress and UML leaders, saying that the Unified Maoist were proceeding in a planned manner to halt the constitution endorsement process, opined that there was no other option to following the set procedure. Saying that Unified Maoist aired voices for agreement but did not show a fraction of flexibility, they added that people heading for protests could not be stopped. BITE...
Leaders of both the fronts- after the meeting today- have informed that efforts for consensus were to be continued. A new constitution is yet to be delivered due to the ongoing lack of consensus among the political parties. Discontentment is increasingly growing in public due to the widening gap among the political parties following the failure of endorsement of a new constitution on January 22. The possibility of promulgation of a new constitution based on agreement now appears feeble with both the fronts firm on their respective stances.