Kathmandu, Dec 10 (IANS): Nepal's Constituent Assembly has taken up key contentious issues relating the new statue after major parties failed to forge consensus on this, it was announced Wednesday.

Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee (PDCC) Chairman Baburam Bhattarai presented a report to a full house Constituenty Assembly containing major contentious issues such as federalism, form of government, judiciary and the electoral system.

Discussions on disputed issues will begin Thursday in the full House, Xinhua reported.

The PDCC was supposed to settle contentious issues but failed due to disputes among major parties.

Bhattarai said parties needed to discuss more on contentious issues and there have been positive discussions.

Ahead of the 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit held in Kathmandu in the last week of November, the ruling parties had issued a proposal, recommending that the disputed issues of constitution writing should be put to vote, while the opposition alliance had insisted on resolving the contentions through consensus.

Nepal's constitution drafting process is at crossroads as parties have just about 40 days to meet the Jan 22 deadline for issuing a new national charter.