Miscellaneous
Governing parties in bid to allay Morcha concerns
The governing parties on Saturday tried to allay the concerns of the agitating Madhes-based parties, saying the constitution amendment bill will be moved forward.The governing parties on Saturday tried to allay the concerns of the agitating Madhes-based parties, saying the constitution amendment bill will be moved forward.
During a meeting with the leaders of the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha on Saturday evening at Baluwatar, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also the chairman of the CPN (Maoist Centre), and Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba told them that the amendment bill “will neither be withdrawn nor will be kept inactive”.
Of late reports have been rife that the governing parties and the main opposition CPN-UML reached an understanding to put the amendment bill on hold and go for local level elections.
Dahal and Deuba are learnt to have told the Madhesi leaders that the bill would be taken to Parliament with revision and that it would be endorsed. The amendment bill registered on November 29 has become the source of political polarisation, with the main opposition vehemently objecting to it. It has been obstructing the House, saying it won’t let Parliament function unless the government withdraws the bill.
The Morcha, at whose insistence the bill was registered, itself maintained a vague position for days before deciding to support the bill, but with caveats. One of the demands is the bill should be revised before taking it to the House.
After Saturday’s meeting, Sadbhawana Party Chairman Rajendra Mahato said that PM Dahal during discussion with the Madhes-based parties tried to clear the air, saying the amendment bill would be moved forward and that it would be endorsed at any cost.
Besides Mahato, Mahantha Thakur, Rajendra Shrestha, Rajkishor Yadav, Sharat Singh Bhandari, Hridayesh Tripathi and Anil Jha from the Morcha were present in Saturday’s meeting.
But it is not clear how the prime minister is planning to take the amendment bill forward, as the UML has taken a hardened stance against it, saying it would block it in Parliament. In addition, the prime minister is yet to make the government’s position clear on the revision the Morcha is seeking on the bill.
According to Mahato, PM Dahal told the Madhesi leaders that he would call another meeting to find a point of compromise on revising the amendment bill.
“The prime minister, however, said reports claiming three major parties were planning to keep the bill inactive declaring election dates were baseless,” said Mahato.