Interim constitution will hand over on Friday

The government and the Maoist negotiating teams are to receive the interim constitution crafted by the Interim Constitution Draft Committee on Friday.

According to sources, head of the government talks team and Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula assured the head of ICDC Laxman Prasad Aryal over the phone that both the teams would receive the interim constitution.

An informal meeting of the government and rebel talks team on Monday had agreed to receive the constitution.

Despite the repeated appeals by the ICDC head Aryal, the seven-party alliance government and the Maoist rebels have failed to reach a common agreement on the interim legislature, constituent assembly process, arms management and other political issues, resulting in the delay of the submission deadline of the temporary constitution.

The ICDC has been saying that it wants to submit the “unfinished” interim constitution leaving the issues to be resolved by the talks teams themselves.

Head of ICDC Laxman Prasad Aryal, said that Home Minister Sitaula, however, did not mention the common agreement on the issue.

If both the sides failed to reach a common consensus on certain key issues of the interim constitution, the ICDC, according to Aryal, will submit the constitution with its own decision over the issues.

According to the source, the government is preparing to table the draft interim constitution in the cabinet meeting for discussion.

Tuesday's cabinet meeting held at the prime minister's residence decided to present the interim constitution at parliament for endorsement.