A team led by Chief Minister of Madhes province Saroj Kumar Yadav has arrived in Kathmandu demanding the rights guaranteed to the provincial governments by the Constitution.
The Yadav-led team, which includes ministers in the Madhes government and representatives of all parties, has already met the top leaders of almost all the major parties.
CM Yadav said that they will decide whether to continue or postpone their announced agitation after meeting and presenting their demands to Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) Chairman Upendra Yadav on Sunday evening and UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli at night.
The Madhes government had announced agitation against the federal government a month ago demanding that the province should get the rights as provided in Schedule 6 of the Constitution.
The Yadav-led team arrived in Kathmandu on Saturday to meet the prime minister and top leaders of federal parties after its deadline to the federal government ended the same day.
The team met Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Sunday morning and drew his attention to their demands. In the meeting, PM Dahal said that they were in favor of federalism and asked the Madhes leaders to withdraw the announced agitation.
The team also drew the prime minister’s attention toward formulating federal laws as provided in the Constitution soon.
The leaders said that they would launch a struggle as their deadline given to the federal government to complete works related to the Civil Service Act and police integration had ended.
In reply, PM Dahal said that he and his party CPN (Maoist Center) had given birth to federalism and that the government was working seriously on making federal laws.
“Our party is the party that fought the most for federalism. I am the leader who continuously struggled for federalism. You have seen my struggles and initiatives for a federal democratic republic. Even now, I am constantly taking initiatives to make federal laws on time. All of you have been supporting it. Let us increase the initiatives in our respective parties and make the implementation of federalism effective," PM Dahal said. "The government has already advanced bills related to federalism. Our joint initiative is necessary for that too. So let's put the struggle programs on hold and focus on more initiatives.”
After the meeting with PM Dahal, the team met Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and Loktantrik Samajwadi Party Chairman Mahantha Thakur and submitted their demands.
During the meetings, all the leaders said that they were in favor of implementing federalism and that all should work together to strengthen federalism.
"Nobody says they are against the Constitution and federalism," CM Yadav told Setopati. "But nobody is serious."
He said that they will decide about the next protest programs after meeting JSP Chairman Yadav and UML Chairman Oli on Sunday evening.
“The leaders have asked for more time. We are contemplating giving 15 more days to the federal government to fulfill our demands,” CM Yadav said. “We will take further decision on what we should do after we meet the two leaders in the evening.”
Representatives of the Madhes government had met PM Dahal and other top leaders in Kathmandu earlier too and repeatedly urged them to give the provinces their rights.
