Gulmi, November 27
Eleven political parties active in Gulmi district on Sunday initiated a joint movement against the design to split Province 5 through Consitutution amendment.
An all-party meeting held at Gulmi district headquarters Tamghas decided to stand against any attempt to separate Tarai and Hill districts that constitute Province 5. The participants decided to remain on standby for a movement if the government design leads to segregation of Hill districts from the Tarai.
Nepali Congress lawmaker Chandra Bhandari said there has been no demand from any side for redrawing of Province 5 boundaries. He said conspiratorial division of the province will not be acceptable.
Khildhwoj Panthi from the Nepali Congress, Madhu Krishna Panta from the CPN-UML, Bir Bahadur Karki from the CPN-Maoist Centre, Anil Kumar Kakshyapati from the RPP and Keshav Adhikari from the CPN-Maoist (Revolutionary) attended the meeting.
The meeting decided to stand together for an undivided Province 5. It requested political parties active in Rupandehi to conduct a meeting of representatives of parties and lawmakers from Lumbini zone.
UML Central Member Khimlal Bhattarai said they are preparing for joint movements in other districts through all-party meetings in the wake of a plot to remove Hill districts from Province 5 through Constitution amendment.
A source said the parties are preparing to turn Butwal and Nepalgunj as centres of the joint movement. Influential leaders from ruling parties themselves are standing against division of the province.
At the call of FNCCI (Gulmi), people from different walks of life had taken out a rally in Tamghas against the plot to divide Province 5.
