After waiting for around five hours, representatives of the agitating Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) on Monday found out that the taskforce members from the ruling coalition were too busy to attend the day’s scheduled meeting.

Morcha representatives were to hold a meeting with representatives of the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist) to discuss contentious issues of the constitution, including demarcation of federal boundaries.

Hridayesh Tripathi, vice-chair of Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party (TMLP), said he and his colleagues from the Morcha waited for three hours in Singha

Durbar and another couple of hours at his party office for the representatives from the ruling coalition.

Rajendra Shrestha, co-chair, Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum Nepal, and Ram Naresh Raya Yadav of Tarai Madhes Sadbhawana party are other members in the taskforce from the Morcha.  

“Bhim Rawalji rang me up in the evening to tell me that he was busy with some administrative work,” said Tripathi. “The next date for the meeting is also yet to be decided.”

Morcha leaders said that Monday’s incident was a fresh instance of major parties’ insincerity for talks.

“Whenever talks appear to be heading towards the right direction, something [like this] turns up,” said TMLP Chair Mahanta Thakur. “Sometimes leaders fail to show up for the meeting, while on other times security forces open fire at peaceful protests,” added Thakur, hinting at how talks in the past several weeks have failed to reach a conclusion despite promising starts.

No one from the government side was available for comments.

NC leader Mahesh Acharya, who is a member in the taskforce, said Monday’s meeting could not take place due to personal commitments of Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Bhim Rawal and Home Minister Shakti Basnet.

In the absence of Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who is a taskforce member from the UCPN (Maoist), Basnet has been representing the party.