Sadbhavana Party to quit CA

KATHMANDU, Aug 19: All six lawmakers of the Sadbhavana Party have announced their resignation from the Constituent Assembly.
Organizing a press meet in the capital on Tuesday, the party led by Rajendra Mahato stated it decided to quit the Constituent Assembly after four major political parties rode roughshod over people's agenda and stifled minority voices taking advantage of their strength in CA.

“The petty interests of leaders of major four parties have prevailed. The major parties conspired against the people of Madhes, Tharuhat and indigenous communities and women,” said Sadbhavana Party chairman Mahato. “Since we don't have the required numerical strength in the CA to alter their decisions, we have decided to go to the people and launch a mass movement,” he added.

Mahato claimed that the people of Madhes want all Madhes-based parties to quit CA and focus on street protests.

“People across the country are protesting against the draft constitution. We cannot cling on to our CA seat when people are dying on the streets,” said Mahato.

Sadbhavana's parliamentary party leader Laxman Lal Karna and lawmakers Bimal Kediya and Shail Kumari Mahato were present at the press meet. “Lawmakers Narsingh Chaudhary and Madhvi Rani Sah are outside the Kathmandu Valley while Sanjay Sah has already sent his resignation letter from jail. We'll submit the resignation at the CA Secretariat soon,” informed Karna.

Sadbhavana lawmaker Sanjay Sah is in judicial custody on the charge of masterminding bomb blast in Janakpur in 2011.

“The central committee meeting of the party some five months ago had asked us to resign from the CA if people's aspirations for change are not addressed by the CA. We tried our best to draft a progressive constitution by raising our voice of dissent at the Constitutional, Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee and Constitution Drafting Committee. However, the major political parties not only ignored our voices but also the voices of the people,” argued Karna.

He accused the major parties of ignoring the basis of identity and economic viability while drawing provincial boundaries. “The new constitution would be regressive if it ignores previous agreements owned by the CA and the fundamental principles accepted by the interim constitution,” said Karna.

Meanwhile, the party has also decided to close down its central office in Kathmandu and set it up somewhere in Madhes. “We have asked all party cadres and pro-Madhes activists to leave Kathmandu and join the protest programs in Madhes,” said Mahato.