Kathmandu, November 29
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s Cabinet has approved a proposal to amend the constitution to address the demands of the Madheshi Morcha.
The government has also registered the proposal at the Parliament’s Secretariat. The proposal addresses issues related to delineation of provincial boundaries, citizenship, formulation of language policy and representation in the national assembly. The Cabinet’s meeting on Tuesday decided to separate hilly districts of Palpa, Arghakhanchi, Gulmi, Pyuthan, and parts of Rukum from Province 5 and to make them a part of Province 4 .
This comes a few hours after Prime Minister Prachanda told Maoist leaders that the Morcha, which has refrained from commenting on the proposal, will back the government motion, and will participate in elections regardless the fate of the amendment.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal commands a slim two-third majority in Parliament after the RPP-RPP-N unification last week. The fate of the proposal hangs in the balance as Nepal’s principal opposition party UML, which commands around one-third of seats in Parliament, has already said it will not back the amendment, and will resort to protests if the government goes ahead with the amendment.
