Kathmandu, April 15

The Federal Alliance will announce its protest programmes against local level polls tomorrow.

General Secretary of National Madhes Socialist Party Keshav Jha said the FA could not finalise its protest programme today due to lack of time, but one thing for certain was that the FA would resort to general strikes in an attempt to disrupt local polls.

“We had two kinds of views with some leaders favouring general strikes from April 18 and others opting for general strikes only a few days’ after organising other programmes such as protests, rallies and mass meetings,” Jha said and added that the top leaders of the FA would finalise the blueprint of their protests tomorrow.

The FA also held a meeting with the alliance of 68 fringe parties led by Naya Shakti Nepal and agreed to extend support to each others’ protest programmes in an attempt to transform the current agitation against local polls into a broader national movement.

According to Jha, the leaders agreed that as the demands of the 68 parties were different from those of the FA’s, both sides would extend moral support to each other till their demands were met.

FA sources said that their protest programme would begin on April 18 and continue till May 14.

The FA and the United Democratic Madhesi Front rejected the new constitution amendment bill that the government recently registered in the Parliament after withdrawing the earlier four-point constitution amendment bill.

The FA and the UDMF said their struggle would continue till their demands were met. The UDMF’s key demands include revision of provincial boundaries and guarantee of population-based representation.

The FA is organising a press conference tomorrow to inform the media about its protest programmes.