Big III, UDMF negotiators term latest meet 'positive'

KATHMANDU: Task forces formed by the big three political parties and the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front held a meeting on Thursday morning, which the negotiators said was positive.

Talking to THT Online over phone, a member of the task force of big parties, Nepali Congress leader Mahesh Acharya said the meeting headed toward a positive direction.

"We have agreed to hold a meeting again this evening as far as possible," Acharya shared without elaborating contents of the discussion.

A representative of the UDMF, Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal Co-Chairman Rajendra Shrestha also said the meeting was a step ahead than the previous meetings toward finding a peaceful solution to the ongoing unrest.

"While we have been demanding that the state restructuring should be done on the basis of the the erstwhile State Restructuring Commission," Shrestha told THT Online, "Mahesh Acharya from the Nepali Congress proposed that differences over demarcation of federal units can be settled within three months after making a commitment to do so on the basis of reports of  the Commission and related bodies."

"But we are yet to check if the views are of Acharya as an individual or they represent the big parties collectively," he doubted.

Shrestha also maintained that the meeting did not hold point-wise detailed discussion.

Besides Acharya, Bhim Rawal of CPN-UML and Krishna Bahadur Mahara of UCPN-Maoist were present in the meeting on behalf of the major three parties.

The agitating UDMF was represented by Shrestha, Tarai Madhesi Democratic Party Vice-Chairman Hridayesh Tripati and Tarai Madhes Sadbhawana Party senior leader Ram Naresh Raya.