Altogether 16 of the 28 lawmakers signed the petition submitted to the MPRF-D parliamentary party office asking party chairman and parliamentary party leader Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, to call a meeting of the parliamentary party to hold discussions on Madhesi issues. [break]
Lawmakers Om Praksah Yadav (whip), Nilam Barma, Kaushal Kumar Yadav, Shiva Narayan Uraw, Laxman Mahato (state minister for forest), Pramod Gupta, Ram Bachchan Yadav (state minister for defense), Karima Begum, Mohammed Wakil Musalman (forest minister), Ramananda Mandal, Asha Kumari Sardar, Lalita Sah, Sewaki Devi Tatma, Tilak Rawal, Sarba Dev Ojha and Sharat Singh Bhandari have signed the petition.
In a two-page petition, the lawmakers have criticized the party leadership for taking no initiative to address issues raised by the party and the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF).
They have accused Gachchhadar, who also holds the defense portfolio, of cheating Madhesi people by introducing policy paper on making the Nepal Army (NA) more inclusive instead of recruiting Madhesi youths in NA as per the four-point agreement.
The lawmakers have stated that they want to know why the party did not take an official view on the reports of State Restructuring Commission (SRC) and on remarks made by senior leaders of major political parties that a new constitution could be promulgated without resolving the issue of federalism.
“If our demands are not met within 15 days, we will stage protest in the streets, parliament and the party,” reads the petition. MPRF-D Whip Om Prakash Yadav maintained that they would take “extreme measures” if their concerns are not addressed.
“We will file a no-confidence motion against Gachchhadar, if he fails to address our concerns within the given deadline,” Yadav added.
“We handed over the petition to party office secretary Rabindra Thakur at Singha Durbar as the general secretary is out of the valley,” said Yadav, adding, “He (Thakur) will register the petition on Monday.”
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