Nepal minister, three MPs resign over Terai turmoil

Kathmandu, Dec 10 - While Nepal's government is arguing with the Maoists over the fate of King Gyanendra and the election, a new crisis has developed with a minister and three parliamentarians resigning Monday to protest the state's apathy towards the turbulence in the Terai region.

Science, Environment and Technology Minister Mahanta Thakur, who belonged to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's ruling Nepali Congress, announced his resignation both from his post and the party.

Thus, the Koirala government is now left without six ministers for key posts, including information and communications, physical planning and infrastructure, and local development.

The other five ministries were held by Maoists who pulled out of the government in September.

Former commerce, industries and supplies minister Hridayesh Tripathi, who quit earlier with the same grievance, announced his resignation as a legislator of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party.

Two more members of parliament - Mahendra Yadav, who belonged to the second largest party in the ruling alliance, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, and Ram Chandra Rai from the main opposition Rastriya Prajatantra Party - also quit together.

'More ministers and MPs are going to resign,' Tripathi told IANS. 'Our resignation is a protest against the apathy of the government, parliament and the parties towards the plight of Madhes.

'They have not tried to resolve the Terai problems politically.'

Violence in the Terai plains in the south, from where the Madhes movement gained momentum this year, has proved to be one of the most difficult problems for the Koirala government.

Madhesis - people of ethnic origin who had been kept out of the government, judiciary, and the army - were regarded as being at the bottom of Nepal's social hierarchy. They were emboldened by the Maoist insurgency and began agitating for their rights.

Currently, there are over a dozen Madhesi groups, most of which are armed and have been spreading terror in the plains through extortion, abductions and killings.

Last week, another former minister from the Terai plains, Rajendra Mahato, who succeeded Tripathi and then resigned after a rift in his party, joined forces with one of the strongest groups in the plains, the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum.

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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