KATHMANDU: Nilambar Acharya, who is recently sworn in as the chairman of the Constitutional Committee (CC) of the Constituent Assembly, on Tuesday warned that the deadline for rafting the new constitution could be possibly missed should relations among major political parties continue to deteriorate any further. “Drafting of the constitution has fallen through for want of an improved relation among major political parties,” Acharya said.

“If their relations improve, we can draft the constitution even within the next eight months; otherwise, we’ll surely miss the deadline,” Acharya, said, speaking at a programme organised in the capital by Human Rights and Democratic Forum.

The Interim Constitution has mandated that the constitution be promulgated within the May 28, 2010, deadline.

“I have personally met the top leaders of three major parties — the UCPN Maoist, the Nepali Congress and the UML — and drew their attention over the issue but their response is not encouraging,” Acharya revealed at the function.

Going by the present pace, according to Acharya, at least four more months are required for all the CA committees to submit their reports. “Further, one more month is needed for the CC to prepare the final draft of the constitution.”

Daman Nath Dhungana, a constitutional lawyer, also expressed doubts over the timely completion of the constitution writing. Dhungana criticised the CA for being a non-starter, in the process. Stressing on the need for a political consensus, he said that the feud among the political parties was not conducive to the smooth functioning of the CA and hence achieving the desired goal of writing a constitution.

Krishna Prasad Sitaula, a NC leader and former home minister, however, blamed the Maoists entirely for the current state of affairs.

He urged them to change what he described as their ‘war-time-mindset’ and come out clean in order to accomplish the unfinished tasks.

“Unless they changed their attitude, other political parties will continue to doubt their intentions,” Sitaula added.

CPN-UML leader, Bharat Mohan Adhikary, also labelled the charges on the Maoists for creating hurdles in the functioning of the CA where all outstanding problems would be resolved.