NSP-A meet put off after protest

Rajbiraj, May 1:

A three-day meeting of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandidevi) leaders ended on an inconclusive note today after party cadres staged a sit-in, calling for the fulfilment of their demands.

The cadres were demanding action against those responsible for the party’s defeat in the CA polls. They were also calling on party president Anandidevi to provide lodging facilities for party cadres at her Seva Ashram in Saptari district so that visiting cadres could meet her personally.

The NSP-A’s central committee meeting coordinated by NSP-A candidate from Saptari-3 Suresh Prasad Singh, Saptari-4 candidate Jismul Khan and the party’s Saptari president Hari Mandal ran into rough weather after the cadres began yelling for the expulsion of all those leaders who had boycotted the PR system of polls.

The meeting broke up after both sides refused to relent. After the abrupt end of the meeting, Singh, Khan and Mandal held a press conference and accused the central committee of the party of secretly recommending Motilal Dugar and Geeta Devi Mandal as PR candidates. They accused senior vice-president of the party Khushilal Mandal and treasurer Tej Kant Jha of manipulating party president Anandidevi. They added that the party command had outraged the feelings of loyal cadres by overlooking those who had got votes for the party and overridden them by selecting those who had worked against the party during the polls.

Meanwhile, Khushilal Mandal claimed that a committee comprising the party’s joint vice-chairman Kamlesh Tiwari, joint general secretary Ram Baran Yadav and central member Rambabu Singh had been formed to select the PR candidates and added that nothing had been finalised yet. “The allegations are baseless, nothing has been finalised yet,” he said.