A leader present at the meeting said that the Front is not going to hand over the government leadership to the opposition alliance at any cost.[break]
"There is an unanimous view among the leaders to transforming the present government into a national consensus coalition under Baburam Bhattarai´s leadership," Dan Bahadur Kurmi Chaudhary of Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party-Nepal, who was present at the meeting, told Republica.
He said that the Madhes-based parties wouldn´t accept leadership of Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML terming them as anti-federalists´ parties. "We won´t accept NC and UML leadership for the new government even if Baburam Bhattarai becomes ready for that," he said.
He said that the Front´s member parties were holding elections for new Constituent Assembly (CA) in coming April-May.
"The agreements reached in the dissolved CA and works done by the Assembly must be owned up and transferred as it is to the new CA and the disputes seen in the previous CA should be enlisted and transferred," Chaudhary said.
He said that the new CA-cum-parliament should be elected for five-year term and that it´s role for statute drafting should come to end only after producing a new constitution whereas other parties such as NC and UML are giving for one-year or two for constitution writing and rest of the time only for legislative role.
The Madhesi parties are also for limiting the tenure of election-government. "If the election-government fails to conduct polls on the announced date, the tenure of leadership of such government should automatically expire," he explained.
However, Health Minister Rajendra Mahato, who is also the chairman of Sadbhavana Party (SP), indicated that the Front will remain flexible on the issue of who would lead the new government.
"It is obvious that everyone should be flexbile and open for crucial agenda because no one can solve the country´s problem remaining rigid," Mahato told Republica. Ruling Madhesi People´s Rights Forum-Democratic (MPRF-D), Tarai-Madesh Democratic Party (TMDP), TMDP-Nepal, MPRF-Republican and SP are member parties of the Front.
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