MPRF-D, the largest party in the alliance of five Madhes-based political parties, is also the coalition partner of the present government led by the UCPN (Maoist). [break]
A meeting of the MPRF-D political committee on Tuesday held at the party´s central office at Sanepa decided to hold talks within the UDMF before taking an official decision over Bhandari´s fate. “The meeting decided to discuss with the constituent parties of the UDMF the demand for the defense minister´s resignation and the implementation of the four-point agreement,” said MPRF-D Spokesperson Jitendra Dev.
The meeting also welcomed the statement of the UCPN(Maoist) reiterating its commitment to the four-point agreement but made no specific comment on Defense Minister Bhandari´s controversial statement.
“We welcome the Maoist statement as it accepted the four-point agreement as an important document and stated that no one should sideline the twin tasks of concluding the peace process and constitution writing,” Sarva Dev Ojha, a member of the MPRF-D parliamentary party, told Republica.
MPRF-D Spokesperson Dev said that the party will also hold talks with the main opposition parties Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML regarding Bhandari´s statement and the ongoing obstruction of parliament.
However, Ojha said their party will not hold any discussion with the NC and CPN-UML and added, “It´s the prime minister´s duty to hold talks with the opposition parties regarding house obstruction as he is the head of the government".
Earlier, the UCPN (Maoist) had said that its agreement with the UDMF was an important political draft prepared for the welfare of the entire nation through restructuring of the state to move in a new direction.
The UCPN(Maoist) issued a press release regarding the four-point agreement and Bhandari´s statement following a meeting between the Maoist and MPRF-D leaderships in the capital Tuesday morning.
The Maoist party has clarified that it is fully committed to implementing the four-point agreement. “No authentic wing of our party has leveled any serious accusation at anybody of being ´anti-national´ and we urge all concerned authorities not to stretch the issue concerning national sovereignty and integrity,” says the press statement.
Minister Bhandari, who is also a senior leader of the MPRF-D, had said during a function in the capital on September 26 that nothing could prevent the 22 districts of the Tarai from seceding if the state continued to be indifferent to their concerns.
Despite mounting pressure on the party to recall Bhandari from the cabinet, a majority of the leaders has defended his statement and have taken the stance that the defense minster must not step down.
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