Kathmandu, August 12:

The Interim Constitution Drafting Committee’s (ICDC) work is being delayed due to a lack of consensus among the seven-party alliance (SPA) and the Maoists on important issues, said Laxman Aryal, coordinator of the ICDC. He urged the concerned parties to come up with a common agreement on the basic framework of the Constitution.

“We need their consensus on the major issues of the monarchy, alternative to the Parliament and citizenship. I hope they will definitely reach an agreement on the pressing issues even if it takes time,” said Aryal.

The election to the Constituent Assembly is virtually impossible until the interim Constitution is formed, according to him. “We can produce the draft as soon as the concerned parties strike an agreement on the important issues,” he said.

Assuring that the SPA and the Maoists will come up with an agreement on major issues, Maoist leader Dina Nath Sharma, however, said the inclusion of the monarchy in the interim Constitution is unacceptable. “We will not have any elements of the constitutional or ceremonial monarchy in the interim Constitution,” said Sharma at a programme organised by the Reporters Club here today. The Maoists, according to him, will convince the SPA on the issue.

Likewise, Pushpa Bhushal, member of the ICDC, urged the SPA and Maoists to come to the fore with a common agreement regarding the framework of the interim Constitution. The Constitution, according to her, should be all-inclusive.