The uncertainty and drama surrounding constitution drafting does not seem to die down and the parties have started hurling accusations at each other for failure to arrive at a consensus. The dispute resolution sub-committee could neither resolve the issues, nor come up with a list of contentious issues to be tabled for voting in the next CA meeting. On Saturday, the constitutional committee had asked dispute resolution sub-committee to make a list of unresolved issues to be tabled for voting or find a common ground.
Although the parties have been holding meetings everyday in an effort to forge consensus, so far they have not proved successful. Today’s all party meeting ended inconclusively, and emerging from the meeting, NC leader Ram Sharan Mahat told journalists, “ We have requested the Maoists and the Madhesis to reconsider their stance on single ethnic states because we believe there are multiple layers of identity including linguistic and cultural and in a democracy everybody has the right to express their concern.”
However, on the other hand, Maoist leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha blamed the NC and UML for increasingly positioning themselves as 'anti-federal'. He said the so-called united movement launched by various groups across Nepal is being fuelled in order to diffuse the ethnic movement.
Today, a group of janajati lawmakers visited the NC and Maoist top brass requesting them to stand in favour of ethnic federalism. While, NC leader Sushil Koirala refused to entertain their demands saying it would endanger integrity and social harmony, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal advised the lawmakers to remain vigilent and confront ‘anti-federal’ forces.
As the May deadline for statute drafting draws closer, the parties are getting more desperate and their disputes have spilled over onto the streets with each party giving implicit support and legitimacy to a group of protestors.