Government and UDMF hold talks, call on one another to be accommodative

Kathmandu / October 21: The government and the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) have held talks today, each side calling on the other to be more accommodative.

The UDMF is launching an agitation in the Terai-Madhes demanding re-demarcation of the federal provinces, incorporation of proportional representation and inclusion in the state bodies and redrawing the electoral constituencies.

Minister for General Administration and a member of the Government Talks Team, Rekha Sharma, told media after the talks that the issues related to the demands of the UDMF got entry in the negotiations and that the Front has again projected the issue of delineation of federal provinces as the major issue.

“They [the Front representatives] said the situation would ease once the issue of the delineation of the border of the federal provinces is settled whereas we requested them to put on hold all the programmes of protests, adopting the middle path,” Minister Sharma said. She also stated that the UDMF talks team reiterated their previous demand of demarcating two provinces in the Terai and they urged them to be flexible on this.

Minister Sharma said they (the government talks team) stressed on reaching to a result by holding meaningful talks which can be felt by all and urged the Front to be flexible to the maximum extent suggesting it would not be appropriate for it to continue digging its heels.

She said today’s meeting between the two sides concluded agreeing to sit for talks on coming Sunday as not all members of the UDMF talks team were available in the Capital. The government had constituted its talks team under the convenorship of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa on October 19. The government talks team held first round of talks with the Front on October 20.

Convenor of the government talks team Thapa and members Sharma and Minister without Portfolio Ram Janam Chaudhary from the government side and chairman of the Terai Madhes Loktantrik Party Mahantha Thakur, vice-chairman Hridayesh Tripathi, Sarbendra Nath Shukla and Lalbabu Raut from the UDMF participated in the talks today. The agitators have been receiving criticism for not stopping the agitation even during the major festivals of the country. RSS