Nepalgunj, November 17:

Chairman of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Upendra Yadav today demanded that the government hold constituent assembly polls without any further delay.

Speaking at a press conference here, Yadav said, “The legitimacy of this government has expired. It is time to move ahead on the basis of a national consensus and hold CA polls to install an elected government.”

He also demanded that Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala resign on moral grounds for failing to hold the polls on November 22.

Yadav said he has given the government a week’s deadline to implement the 22-point accord reached with the forum or face a fresh agitation, after the government implemented not even a single demand.

Saying that the forum will not seek the help of any armed group in the Terai region, Mahato said, “Ours will be a peaceful agitation.” He said the armed groups flourished in the Terai after the government failed to address the issues of the Madhesi people.

Asserting that India had no locus standi in the Madhes, he said, “The issues of the Madhes are ours alone. We can solve them ourselves. There is no need for India’s intervention. India cannot and should not try to solve our problems. At best, moral support from India is acceptable.”

Intervention by India would result in Nepal becoming a failed state, said Yadav, adding that the forum is also against a separate Madhes state. “The Madhes should be an autonomous entity within a united federal structure,” he said. He also said that the armed groups active in

the Madhes should go for dialogue with the government. “Their demand for a secessionist state seems more like a bargaining ploy,” said Yadav.

Clarifying that the forum was not against people of pahadi origin, he said that its protests were directed against the government. He also condemned the recent torching of the national

flag and said that vested interests had tried to deal a blow to nationalism by posing as champions of the Madhesis’ rights.

Yadav also said the CA polls deferral has prolonged the monarchy’s life and that by resorting to political acrobatics to save the monarchy the Nepali Congress was digging its own grave. Asked why the forum was against the Maoists, Yadav said, “It is a misconception. We are not against the Maoists.”

Yadav also said the recent proposal passed by interim parliament for republic was unconstitutional.