Kathmandu, November 15

Nepali Congress has said it will play a lead role in resolving the three-month long Tarai agitation and clear the blockade at the Nepal-India border through talks with all the concerned sides.

A meeting of NC office bearers and some Central Working Committee members held at the party’s Parliamentary Party Office in Singha Durbar decided to this effect, according to NC CWC member Mahesh Acharya.

The NC will take initiative to settle the national problem and help the government to that end, said senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba after the meeting.

“Since talks between the government and agitating forces are not enough to settle the issues as they are related to amendment of the constitution, the NC, in the capacity of the largest democratic party, will take the initiative to find a solution to the problem through Parliament,” said Acharya.

A parliamentary committee will have to be formed to handle the problem immediately after Parliament meeting begins, he said. The next meeting of the Parliament is scheduled to be held on November 22.

The NC held separate meeting with the agitating Madhes-based parties yesterday and concluded that it would take the initiative and move ahead with the process of amending the constitution in accordance with bill registered in Parliament by the erstwhile NC-led government.

“Now, we will hold talks with both the government and the agitating parties. The NC will play a lead role in forging broader consensus,” Acharya said.

Some Madhes-based parties have been agitation for three months with mainly three demands – inserting proportional inclusion in the new constitution, making provision for delimitation of constituencies on the basis of population and making two provinces in the plain region.

Meanwhile, Acting President of the NC Ramchandra Paudel instructed members of the committees formed to prepare for the party’s upcoming National General Convention to be held from March 3 to 6 in Kathmandu to intensify work. His instruction came after a meeting with the coordinators of the 13 preparatory committees held today at the party headquarters in Sanepa.