Kathmandu

No poll if no Constitution amendment, says Thakur

No poll if no Constitution amendment, says Thakur

By THT Online

Tarai Madhes Democratic Party Chairman Mahantha Thakur speaks with journalists at the Reporters' Club, in Kathmandu, on Sunday, February 5, 2017. Photo: Reporters' Club Nepal

KATHMANDU: The Tarai Madhes Democratic Party Chairman Mahantha Thakur on Sunday said no poll would be possible unless the Constitution was amended. Speaking with journalists at the Reporters' Club in Kathmandu today, one of the top leaders of the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front said, 'If anyone has thought that the Front would go for elections notwithstanding the endorsement of the Constitution, it is just a daydream.' He asserted that the incumbent Nepali Congress-CPN Maoist Centre coalition must ensure endorsement of the Constitution, not only a discussion on it, to convince the UDMF for the polls. Meanwhile, the leader said the incumbent Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government was not serious about amending the Constitution. 'We are not against the polls,' he maintained, 'But, no any election can give any way out to the nation without solving the existing problems.' Thakur warned that if the government tried to hold the elections forcefully, the Madhes-centric parties would boycott them and the consequences could be 'complex.' He suggested that the political problems should be solved politically, but violence and force should not be exercised. The leader also reiterated that report produced by the Local Bodies Restructuring Commission would not be accepted for the agitating parties citing that the report was produced without any consultation with locals.