Rajbiraj, January 20:

Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha’s central coordinator Jaya Krishna Goit has said that the morcha is ready for talks if there is conducive environment.

Issuing a press release today, he said that the morcha is always ready for the talks if there is a conducive environment coupled with the mediation of the United Nations. He said that serious attention was drawn to the remarks of the Minister of Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel on the occasion of wrapping up of the winter session of the parliament. The release also alleged that the government did not show any serious interest for talks even after the morcha withdrew the two-day bandh on November 5 and 6, 2006. The government instead of holding talks were allowing the Young Communist League cadres to unleash terror in Tarai, he alleged.

Meanwhile, a report from Kathmandu said leaders of the CPN-UML and Nepali Congress today called on the agitating Madhesi groups and political parties to come for talks with the government to discuss issues that they have raised recently.

“The Madhesi people will suffer the biggest setback if the agitating groups and parties continue agitation refusing talks with the government,” UML standing committee member Jhala Nath Khanal said at a function here today.

He said some of the issues raised by the agitating Madhesi parties could be addressed immediately while there were some issues — such as restructuring the state — which could be resolved only by the constituent assembly. He said the country could not go for a federal system of governance without holding the election.

Vice-president of the Nepali Congress Gopal Man Shrestha also asked the agitating groups to come for talks and participate in the election, as there was no alternative to the polls. “The seven-party alliance will consider what to do next if the agitating Madhesi groups refuse to come for talks,” Shrestha said.

NC leader Shrestha, however, said that his party would not make any electoral alliance as his party was capable of winning the election single-handedly, adding the NC would also consider making an alliance with democratic forces if the Leftist forces did the same.