As the top leaders of major parties said they are making their last-ditch efforts to forge consensus and deliver the new constitution, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli announced on Monday that the January 22 deadline was going to be missed.

He passed the buck to the UCPN-Maoist for the failure to resolve the differences over the contentious issues, dubbing the former rebel party a chameleon for its role during negotiations. Oli criticized the Maoist party for "dividing the country and parties in the name of caste and region."

Though the deadline was to be missed, the Constituent Assembly would deliver the constitution in a couple of months through two-thirds majority following due procedure, he said.

He was addressing a gathering of the party cadres here in the Capital this afternoon.

The leadership of current government, led by Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala, would not be changed even if the constitution could not be delivered on the scheduled date, he told the party cadres.

According to him, none of the UML leader was in a hurry to become the prime minister.

Former prime ministers and senior leaders of the party, Jhala Nath Khanal and Madhav Kumar Nepal, also stressed on the process to deliver the new constitution as the January 22 deadline could be missed.

Other leaders of the parties opined that the party should be able to get over the confusion created in the name of efforts to build of consensus and go for majority to deliver the constitution.