The major three parties have been trying to woo the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) to accept the proposal on forming a high level political committee that would settle disputes on provincial delineation. In its Sunday meeting, the taskforce discussed possible terms of reference for the proposed committee.
"We have been discussing a point at a time and what I can say now is we are narrowing down the issues," said Nepali Congress Leader Mahesh Acharya, one of the taskforce members.
"The agitating parties are yet to join the process of constitution amendment and we are trying to convince them to take it forward by addressing their concerns through additional proposals on the amendment bills," he added.
UDMF leaders also claimed that the taskforce has been moving in a positive direction. "The discussions are moving in a positive direction. We'll discuss on Monday on what else could be the basis to form the high level political committee. Since, we were betrayed in the past by various governments, this time we want to form a credible committee with specific terms of reference," said Ram Naresh Raya, a senior Tarai Madhes Sadbhavana Party leader.
"The UDMF wants to be clear on the basis of the committee's formation, specific tasks it will be assigned to perform and its constitutional standing," explained NC leader Acharya.
"There were many proposals recorded in Constituent Assembly on provincial delineation. They are resources for the parliament too and we have been convincing them that the political committee could take those proposals as reference materials," Acharya added.
The task force, formed two weeks ago, comprises of Deputy Prime Minister and CPN-UML Vice Chairman Bhim Rawal, UCPN (Maoists) General Secretary Krishna Bahadur Mahara, NC leader Acharya, Tarai Madhes Democratic Party Vice Chairman Hridayash Tripathi, Federal Socialist Forum Nepal Co-Chairman Rajendra Shrestha and TMSP senior leader Raya.
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