Prime Minister Sushil Koirala tweeted, “A constitution with federalism and demarcation has been ensured. I call on everyone not to be stuck on minor disagreements and work to build and develop the country.”
The parties have also agreed to include the provision of allowing children to acquire citizenship certificate in the name of either father or mother, in the citizenship clause, according to deputy prime minister and minister for local development and federal affairs, Prakash Man Singh. Koirala and top leaders of CPN-UML, Nepali Congress, Unified CPN-Maoist and Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum Democratic were present in the meeting. However, UCPN-Maoist and MPRFD, have signed the deal with dissent. “Although we have some reservations in certain clauses of the proposed constitution, we will fully abide by the agreement,” Dinanath Sharma, spokesperson of the UCPN-Maoist said.
Dividing the state was one of the thorny issues of the new constitution. With signing of the agreement among the major parties on the issue of federal model, the constitution drafting has reached its final phase. Although the political parties have agreed on numbers and boundaries of the federal units, they are yet to agree on the names of the federal units. In the agreed model of federal structure, all the six provinces have direct access with Indian border. The capital district of Kathmandu, lies in province number 2.
