Kailali, February 5 :

Former prime minister and Nepali Congress-Democratic president Sher Bahadur Deuba today urged the Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum (MJF) to sit for talks with the government to solve their problems.

Deuba said this while addressing a mass meet organised by Kailali NC-D’s constituency no. 1 here. “The Maoists have joined the mainstream by renouncing violence. It is regrettable that the MJF has turned down the government’s call for talks time and again,” he said.

He also said that Maoist chairman Prachanda’s actions are different from his words and this is causing confusion. Demanding that the Maoists return the land captured in Terai to the rightful owners, Deuba said the problems of freed Kamaiyas would be solved soon.

He revealed that an agreement was made with India to blacktop Lamki-Tikapur road section and that a survey was also completed and that the task would kick off in a few months.

Talking about problems in the process of citizenship certificate distribution in the Terai, he said there should be on-the-spot monitoring to tackle them.

On the occasion, central members of NC-D Dr Minendra Rijal and Balkrishna Khand and member of the interim parliament Khemraj Bhatta Mayalu and joint-general secretary of the Nepal Students’ Union Kalyan Gurung also expressed their views.

The programme was presided over by the NC-D’s Kailali chairman of constituency no. 1 Dirgha Raj Regmi.