Ruling Nepal Communist Party has consulted members of Parliament’s State Affairs and Good Governance Committee as it prepares to decide how the controversial citizenship bill, which has been pending for over two years, is to be shaped.

As almost all top leaders present during Friday’s Baluwatar meeting reiterated that naturalised citizenship be accorded to foreign women tying the knot with Nepali men only seven years after their marriage, the party is likely to decide along similar lines in a few days.

“We will come up with a decision within a day or two,” deputy leader of the ruling party’s legislative outfit Subash Chandra Nembang quoted prime minister KP Sharma Oli as saying during the meeting. “The two chairs (Oli and Dahal) will also discuss the issues and take it to the Secretariat meeting before the party comes up with a concrete decision.”

Leaders of the ruling party are one on the seven-year provision for foreign women who enter into matrimony with Nepali men. But a recent office bearers’ meeting of the Nepali Congress decided that the provisions of the Citizenship Act 2063, which allow such women to acquire naturalised citizenship after they initiate the process to renounce their original citizenship.

On Thursday, top leaders of the ruling party consulted leaders of the main opposition. But a consensus could not be forged.

Wednesday’s meeting of the parliamentary committee had urged parties major to forge consensus on the contentious issue within five days.

With the two major parties divided on the provisions, the committee members are in favour of presenting the bill before the full house.