Kathmandu, May 27 - Nepal's major parties today failed to forge consensus on the issue of the constitution drafting, pushing the country on the brink of a new political crisis with the deadline for a new statute expiring midnight.

"Till now there is no agreement on the issue of state restructuring, the key issue that is blocking the constitution drafting, and we are still holding consultations," said Nepali Congress leader Bimalendra Nidhi.

During the bilateral and multi-lateral meetings, the top leaders of the major political parties dwelt on various possibilities to end the ongoing deadlock as just few hours are left for dissolution of the Constituent Assembly with no agreement to announce the new constitution.

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai this morning called on President Ram Baran Yadav and briefed him about the latest political development.

The President is understood to have told Bhattarai to finalize the constitution so as to avert the deadlock.

There seems to have emerged polarization among the political parties regarding the model of state restructuring with the Maoist-Madhesi Front sticking to the idea of federating the states on singular ethnicity while the Nepali Congress-CPN(UML) alliance favouring the idea of federating the states on the basis of multi-ethnicity and economic viability.

The discussion of the political parties have focused on several options after the Sunday midnight, when the Constituent Assembly's tenure expires.

One of the options is to announce a brief constitution by forging understanding among the political parties on minimum points while the other way is to complete the draft constitution by forging agreement on the contentious issues of state restructuring. PTI