Kathmandu, March 2

Tarai Madhes Democratic Party and Sadbhawana Party today instructed their leaders to prepare for the next movement against local level elections.

General Secretary of TMDP Sarvendranath Shukla said his party chief Mahantha Thakur called a meeting of the parliamentary wing and instructed leaders to prepare for the movement from today. Shukla said some leaders had already left Kathmandu for their constituencies and the United Democratic Madhesi Front would wait a few days before deciding on the forms of protest.

Meanwhile, Sadbhawana Party Chair Rajendra Mahato also called central leaders of the party who were present in the capital and told them to prepare for protests. SP General Secretary Manish Kumar Suman said the party chair told leaders it had not registered with the Election Commission and they should tell the public clearly that the party would not take part in the election unless the constitutional issues raised by the United Democratic Madhesi Front were addressed. Mahato also told party leaders to give details of forms of protest they think the UDMF should adopt during the next movement. “Party Chair Mahato, however, told leaders that their protest would be peaceful and non-violent as advocated by the party’s founder Gajendra Narayan Singh.

Suman said the party leaders concluded that UDMF should launch protest programmes in such a way that it would cause ‘no or minimum inconvenience’ to the public, but would exert maximum pressure on the government to address its demands. “We will advocate the same strategies in the next meeting of the front,” Suman added.