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Cabinet endorses supplementary bill; nominates 26 CA members

The cabinet meeting held on Friday evening has endorsed the supplementary bill prepared by three parties and approved by five parties.

The government intends to present the bill at the Constituent Assembly (CA) meeting on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the cabinet has also decided to nominate 26 CA members as per the list submitted by the nine parties.

The cabinet also decided to transform the Shital Niwas – which currently houses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – into presidential palace.

Following a week of hectic parleys, the three major parties - CPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) - had earlier on Friday reached understanding on the draft of the supplementary bill for amendment in the interim constitution.

The three party leaders claim that the bill will address the demands of the Terai-based parties that have continuously disrupted the Constituent Assembly sessions since June 26.

A meeting of the three parties held at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction arrived at the consensus on the draft bill Friday afternoon.

According to UML leader Bhim Rawal, the draft bill states that delineation of federal units will be done by the proposed State Restructuring Commission as per the agreements reached with various groups including Madhesi parties.

However, the seven-party meeting that followed failed to find a point of consensus on the issue. Three minor allies - People's Front Nepal, and Nepal Workers and Peasant Party opposed the decision saying that such a provision in the interim constitution will lead to the disintegration of the nation.

UML general secretary Jhal Nath Khanal informed that the constitution will have a provision mandating the State Restructuring Commission to take into consideration the agreement reached with the coalition of the Terai based parties, federation of the indigenous nationalities, joint struggle committee of the indigenous groups and federal republican national front while deciding the federal structure of the country.

Nepali Congress vice president and peace minister Ram Chandra Poudel said the disagreement among the seven parties would be settled by the CA after the bill is tabled in it.

It is, however, not certain how the Madhesi parties will react to the cabinet decision. The three Madhesi parties - Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF), Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party (TMLP) and Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) - were locked in internal discussions till late evening on Friday. nepalnews.com sd Jul 04 08