Kathmandu, November 7

Province 2 Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Development Jitendra Sonal said the provincial government would try to sort out issue of nomenclature and headquarters of the province in the next two months.

He said the coalition of Samajwadi Party Nepal and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal that commanded majority in the Provincial Assembly wanted ‘Madhes Prades’ as its name, but the opposition parties Nepali Congress and the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) opposed it.

NC wants Province 2 to be called ‘Mithila Bhojpura’ while NCP wants it to be called ‘Janaki Prades.’

Sonal said the Province 2 government had waited all these months to forge a consensus with NC and NCP keeping in view that the issue of name and headquarters should be decided through two-third majority. “Our government is not worried about the possible withdrawal of our proposal. We command majority in the PA, so we are not worried that the withdrawal of our proposal could lead to the dissolution of our government,” he added.

RJP-N lawmaker Manish Kumar Suman said the coalition partners were after naming Province 2 as Madhes Prades as over hundreds of people attained martyrdom during Madhes movements for Madhes identity. “We cannot compromise on the issue of Madhes Prades,” he said.

Suman and Nepali Congress lawmaker Saroj Kumar Yadav, however, said all the parties tentatively agreed to make Janakpurdham as the headquarters of the province.

“Some parties want the headquarters to be expanded to the entire Dhanusha district while others are opting for including some parts of Mahottari district as well. The parties will, however, eventually agree on Janakpurdham as it has been included in all parties’ proposal,” Yadav said. He hoped that the PA would sort out issue of nomenclature and headquarters within a month from now.

The Province 2 PA had formed a committee to expedite the process of registering a proposal in the Provincial Assembly to decide on the issue of name and headquarters of Province 2.