By Anil Giri
Kathmandu, July 13 (IANS) The agitating Madhesi Morcha in Nepal will support the new power-sharing deal reached between the Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre) to topple the K.P. Sharma Oli-led government and will support Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" as the country's next prime minister, a top Madhesi leader said on Wednesday.
After the CPN (Maoist Centre) withdrew support to Oli on Tuesday, the government has been reduced to minority and will be facing no trust motion in parliament.
"We support the bid to pull down the government but will not be part of the next government," said Upendra Yadav, one of the Morcha leaders.
Prachanda is all set to become Nepal's next prime minister after toppling Oli as per an agreement reached between the opposition Nepali Congress and the Maoists.
The NC and the Maoist alliance is comparatively positive in addressing the demands raised by the Morcha which spearheaded a five-month-long agitation after the promulgation of the new constitution in September last year.
Despite 36 rounds of talks with the Oli government, the demands raised by the Morcha, including change in demarcation of proposed seven provinces and making the new constitution more inclusive and Madhes-friendly, remain in limbo.
A seven-point agreement reached between NC and Maoist ahead of the pulling out of support to Oli clearly states that once the new government is formed, the demands of the agitating Madhesi Morcha will be looked into seriously and the government will address them with all seriousness.
"We will look into what kind of approach the new alliance will have towards us," said Yadav, adding that "accordingly we will extend support or join the government".
The first point of the deal reached between the NC and Maoist that is considered as the cornerstone for the new political alliance was committed to addressing the dissatisfaction in the Madhes region of the country.
"Dissatisfactions seen in various issues of the new constitution and reservation put by Madhesis, Tharu and other communities will be sought a political understanding to resolve them. In this context, all acceptability in constitution will be sought through the political understanding," said the No.1 point of the NC-Maoist agreement paper.
A meeting of the Morcha on Wednesday decided to cast its vote in favour of the no trust motion registered jointly by the NC and Maoists at the parliament secretariat.
"The Oli government was never responsible towards the nation and our grievances... so we have decided to cast our vote against him," said Yadav.
(Anil Giri can be contacted at girianil@gmail.com)
