The talks team formed by the three parties had met with Tarai Madhes Democratic Party Chairman Mahantha Thakur thrice before starting the formal talks to learn about the preconditions of the UDMF. Though the government had decided to stop patrolling by Nepal Army, lifted curfew at several places and decided to provide reparation to the families of those killed during the protests, Madhes-based parties claimed that they could not start discussion on their political demands as the government has not met all the preconditions and not acted on the decisions it has made."We have been urging the government to bring normalcy to Madhes. We have also urged the government to execute the decisions taken and to meet the remaining preconditions soon. We will start discussion on our political agenda immediately after the government decides to meet all our preconditions," said Laxman Lal Karna, the co-chairman of Sadbhavana Party.
"The talks team has promised us that the government will decide on our preconditions soon. So now the ball is in the government's court. It is for the government to fulfill our preconditions. We are always ready for talks," he added.
TMDP General Secretary Sarvendra Nath Shukla alleged that the government and the major three parties are not serious enough about resolving the problem.
"We want talks for settling all the issues. However, the government has even not executed the decision taken 10 days ago. People injured in the protest are not getting proper treatment. How could we enter political agenda in such a situation," said Shukla.
"In the meantime, we have also asked the talks team to come up with a concrete view on our major demand related to revising provincial delineation," he added.
During Tuesday's talks, the major three parties asked the UDMF to end the blockade at border checkpoints.
"We informed them about the initiatives taken by the government and urged them to end the blockade, which has hit the economy and public life hard," said Forest and Soil Conservation Minister Mahesh Acharya, who is also a member of the three parties' talks team.
"We'll discuss their demands among the three parties again and sit for talks on Wednesday," he added.
However, the Madhesi leaders said that they would not end the blockade until their political demands are addressed.
"The talks have not entered political agenda. We cannot end the protests at border checkpoints until the political demands are addressed," said Sadbhavana leader Karna.
Questions of constitution amendment, government formation
As both the sides have agreed in principle to address the political agendas raised by Madhes-based parties through amendment to the constitution, advocate Tikaram Bhattarai doesn't see any problem in settling the issue. He, however, opines that the talks could not become fruitful since the Madhes-based parties have made the ongoing process a prestige issue and wanted to deal everything including power sharing now.
"The Madhes-based parties want to settle all their political agendas before the formation of new government though they well know that constitution amendment is a procedural issue and takes time," said Bhattarai.
"Since the government has started constitution amendment process to address two of the four major demands of the Madhes-based parties, I, as a member of the public, feel that they have some hidden agenda as well. They want to be part of the power-sharing arrangement as well as serve Indian interest," argued Bhattarai.
Bhattarai claimed that India and Madhes-based parties want to force major three parties into fulfill even illogical demands by imposing blockade at checkpoints.
However, another advocate Deependra Jha opined that the major three parties are more interested in forming new government even before addressing Madhes issues.
"The major three parties should have moved toward amending the constitution, but they are instead wrangling over the new prime ministerial candidate," said Jha.
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