Minister Yadav tells TMDP got to split

ARJUN BHANDARI

KATHMANDU: Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party today split in two with nine of its lawmakers led by Minister for Industry Mahendra Prasad Yadav announcing a new outfit Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party-Nepal. Minister Yadav was earlier joint general secretary in the mother party.

“We have authenticated our signatures in the presence of the CA chairman to form a separate parliamentary party as per the clause 5 (2) of the Anti-Defection Act,” stated a letter handed over to Constituent Assembly Chairman Subas Nembang. The Act, however, does not allow a party to split more than once.

Yadav has accused the mother party of being ‘undemocratic’. “The party had been functioning under one man’s decision and it never functioned democratically,” Yadav told mediapersons. He also claimed that TMDP had failed to address Madhesi concerns effectively.

But TMDP Chief Whip Brijesh Kumar Gupta refuted the allegations. “It is wrong to allege that the party functioned undemocratically,” said Gupta, adding the party had yet to evolve as a democratic outfit as it was formed when the Madhes movement was at its peak. Gupta said the Maoist and other ruling parties were responsible for the split.

In the splinter group — TMDP-N — Yadav has been nominated parliamentary party leader and CA member Arabinda Sah the whip.

TMDP, led by Mahantha Thakur, which had 20 seats in the CA, had come into existence just a few months prior to the CA elections in early 2008 and Yadav had quit the CPN-UML to join the party.

The other lawmakers in the newly formed party are Govinda Chaudhary, Dan Bahadur Chaudhary Kurmi, Sallahuddin Musalman, Chandan Sah, Sumitra Devi Ray Yadav, Ramani Ram and Urmila Mahato Koiri, who all were present in the CA chairman’s chamber today.