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Madheshi Politicians Still Not Joining Government
BY KTM Metro Reporter in Kathmandu
On June 23, 2009, it has been exactly two months since Madhav Nepal is sworn in as the second Prime Minister of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, however, the members of the United Democratic Madheshi Front: loose coalition of three Madheshi parties have not decided yet whether to join the coalition government or not.
Some of the Madheshi politicians have been bargaining with the Prime Minister on the ministerial portfolios. The NC ministers having attractive portfolios have been asking for the most attractive portfolio such as Nepal Oil Corporation to add to the Ministry of Energy whereas the Madheshi politicians say they will not join the government if the Nepal Oil Corporation goes to the Ministry of Energy from the Ministry of Supply that has been allocated to them.
Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Gacchedar has been facing unprecedented difficulty in keeping all of his colleagues of his Madheshi People’s Rights Forum and his partners in other parties such as Tarai Madheshi Democratic Party and Nepal Sadbhavana Party happy, as the NC and CPM-UML have already allocated the most of the attractive portfolios to the members of the Council of Ministers.
However, the Madheshi politicians have an option to go back to the people and launch another movement for ‘Autonomous Madhesh Province’ if the current government cannot meet their demands. Currently, the Madheshi politicians have been ready to join the government for attractive ministerial portfolios even if the main coalition partners such as NC and CPM-UML leaders have been deadly against their basic demand for ‘Autonomous Madhesh Province’.
