Madhesi Front parties return to House, obstruct business

KATHMANDU: Lawmakers of four parties, affiliated with the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front, obstructed the business at Parliament on Sunday.

As soon as Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal parliamentary party leader Ashok Kumar Rai announced that they would not let House proceed with its business unless the government addressed their demands, lawmakers came in front of the rostrum and began sloganeering.

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Before his announcement, Rai had urged the government to engage in rigorous talks with the protesting parties to address their demands.

He had also accused the government of not paying serious attention to demands of the protesting parties.

After the obstruction, Speaker Onsari Gharti adjourned the House meeting till 3 pm tomorrow.

The four parties — Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal, Tarai Madhesh Democratic Party, Nepal Sadbhawana Party and Tarai-Madhesh Sadbhawana Party — have 35 lawmakers.

The four parties had walked out of the Constituent Assembly before the promulgation of new Constitution, expressing their reservations over some provisions in the yet-to-be promulgated Constitution and the purported demarcation of provincial boundaries.

The UDMF and government have already held four rounds of talks. However, after the November 1 incident in Birgunj, in which security personnel used force to open the Nepal-India border to send Indian cargo vehicles back to India and a person was shot dead in violent protest subsequently, the UDMF has accused the government of ruining the environment of peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Earlier, the four parties had returned to the Parliament to cast vote in favour of Nepali Congress' candidate Sushil Koirala in the prime ministerial election on October 11.  After Koirala's defeat, they, however, did not join the House business in the elections of Speaker, Deputy Speaker, President and Vice-President.

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