KATHMANDU, April 27: Three political parties -- Nepali Congress, People's Socialist Party, Nepal, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party-- represented in the federal parliament have demanded legal action against those involved in the 'kidnapping' of lawmaker Dr. Surendra Yadav. 

A meeting of the top leaders of the three parties held at NC headquarters in Sanepa on Monday said that the move aims at flouting basic democratic norms and values and establishing an authoritarian regime in the country. The meeting said that the Nepali people are engaged with the kidnapping carried out even with the support of the government. 

Two lawmakers of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) -- Mahesh Basnet and Kisan Shrestha-- and former chief of Nepal Police Sarbendra Khanal had brought lawmaker Dr. Yadav to Kathmandu from Mahottari allegedly without his consent in a bid to split Socialist Party led by Upendra Yadav a few days ago. 

This comes a day after Metropolitan Police Range Office, Kathmandu, declined to register a kidnapping case against Basnet, Shrestha, and Khanal. "This meeting strongly denounces this kind of criminal act and wants legal action initiated immediately against those involved in this crime," said the statement issued jointly by NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, top leaders of People's Socialist Party, Nepal, Upendra Yadav, and Sharat Singh Bhandari and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) leader Prakash Chandra Lohani.

The meeting also denounced the attempt of the current government to move forward on the path of totalitarianism and expressed commitment to fight any such move by uniting all democratic forces in the country, according to the joint statement.

Similarly, the meeting has criticized the government for failing to come up with a concrete plan to fulfill people's basic needs and relief package to minimize the negative effects of prolonged nationwide lockdown in the country's economy. While asking the government to immediately come up with relief packages, the meeting also demanded that the government expand the scope of testing of coronavirus among people.

NC leaders Bimalendra Nidhi, Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar, Dr. Shashank Koirala, Purna Bahadur Khadka, Prakash Sharan Mahat, Prakash Man Singh, Radhe Shayam Adhikari, and Bishwa Prakash Sharma and People's Socialist Party, Nepal's leaders Mahantha Thakur, Baburam Bhattarai, Rajendra Mahato, Mahendra Yadav, Ashok Rai, and Rajendra Shrestha were also present in the meeting. 

 
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