By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : Nepal’s political instability and the uncertainty surrounding the November election deepened Saturday with a minister being arrested soon after he quit the cabinet and began a protest movement that is likely to impact the turbulent Terai plains.
Rajendra Mahato, who headed the important ministry of commerce, industries and supplies, was arrested along with other followers after he began a protest before the Election Commission soon after announcing his resignation late Friday night.
Armed policemen overpowered the minister and his supporters who began torching copies of the verdict given by the poll panel Friday to settle a growing dispute in Mahato’s Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP). The panel de-recognised his faction.
The minister was bundled off unceremoniously into a waiting police van and taken away along with senior members of his faction in a surprising twist to the fast-paced political developments throughout the week here.
The NSP, a party of Madhesis – people from the Terai plains – has been ridden with internal quarrels since 2003, when it was split by a royalist minister, who chose to support King Gyanendra while the dissident faction joined the anti-king, pro-democracy movement.
The royalist group’s fortunes fell after the king’s ouster in 2006 and the dissident faction became a member of the new ruling coalition.
Recently, the royalists decided to bury the hatchet and reunited with the dissidents.
However, instead of strengthening the party, the unification had the opposite effect.
In a bid to prove itself the legitimate NSP, the Mahato faction this month held a “general convention”, which they say was recognised by over 70 percent of the senior members.
However, the Election Commission Friday said it recognised the other group as the bona fide party and asked Mahato to register his faction as a new party.
An enraged Mahato pulled out of the government, blaming Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and the government for the adverse verdict.
He becomes the sixth minister to quit the six-month old Koirala cabinet. Five Maoist ministers pulled out of the government recently, demanding an immediate abolition of monarchy.
With Mahato’s exit, the Terai factor is likely to become an issue since the government now has just one minister from the plains, where several groups have been waging separate movements against the exclusion and neglect of plains people.
To compound difficulties for the government that is already under threat from the Maoists and other ethnic organisations, the Mahatao group has called for a protest Sunday, the day for filing nominations for the Nov 22 election.
His men have warned they would picket all Election Commission offices.
The Mahato faction has also called a three-day general strike in the Terai from Oct 4.
Oct 5 is the day for filing a second set of nominations.
“We support the election but we doubt the Election Commission’s neutrality,” Mahato told IANS.
“If it can recognise a minority faction as the bona fide party and ignore the majority faction, we fear during the election, the plains will vote for someone and the commission will elect someone else.”
Mahato is also accusing the Election Commission of being manipulated by the government and its head and ignoring the rights of the plains people.
His faction has redoubled efforts to forge an understanding with the different groups agitating in the plains, including the armed ones, and form a united alliance from the plains.
However, Mahato said his faction’s protests would be peaceful.
Meanwhile, a countdown has also begun for King Gyanendra.
The Maoists Friday asked Koirala to summon a special session of parliament where they will put the king’s fate to a vote.
According to Nepal’s constitution, the prime minister would now have to convene the session within 15 days.