Kathmandu, November 20

As long as the major parties do not take joint initiatives to resolve the Madhes agitation, the existing crisis resulting due to acute shortage of essential commodities, is only likely to worsen.

Ganesh Shah, a member of the High Level Political Coordination Committee of the ruling coalition, said it is high time that the major parties make concerted efforts to end the crisis.

He said the talks between the government and the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front on Wednesday ended inconclusively because of lack of preparations on the part of ruling parties. He said the talks failed as Unified CPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal failed to take other major stakeholders, including the Nepali Congress, into confidence.

“Now the conflict has reached a new height and therefore a multi-faceted approach is necessary to tackle the problem,” he said, adding that people from different walks of life, including civil society, business community, spiritual and religious leaders should also work towards resolving the problem.

Vice-chairman of the Unified CPN-Maoist Narayan Kaji Shrestha said the three major parties must unite for the talks with the agitating parties to yield results. He said his party and Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been working to patch up differences between the parties.

Asked about the initiative taken by the main opposition party Nepali Congress, Shrestha said efforts made without the consensus between the three major would be fruitless.

Shrestha said he was not in a position to tell exactly when another round of talks would be held with the agitating Madhes-based parties.

Minister for General Administration Rekha Sharma, who is also a member of the government’s talks team, said she was not aware of the developments after UCPN-M Chairman Dahal-led high level talks team was entrusted with holding dialogue with the agitating parties.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli today said the government was ready to discuss the genuine demands put forth by the agitating Madhes-based parties.