Govt, Sadhbhawana strike deal

KATHMANDU, MAY 26 - After several rounds of dialogue, the government talks team finally struck a deal with the agitating Rajendra Mahato -led Sadhbhawana Party on Sunday. Agreement was reached between the two sides in a meeting held at the Secretariat of the Peace Trust in Babarmahal, Kathmandu today. Following the agreement , the party has decided to withdraw its agitation programmes including the hunger strike staged by party Chairman Rajendra Mahato . Earlier, the party had been agitating to press for its 10-point charter of demands which included immediate announcement of the date for Constituent Assembly (CA) election, distribution of citizenship certificates, and constitution of electoral constituency delimitation commission, among others. It has been learnt that the government assured the party about holding the CA election by third week of November and also pledged Sadhbhawana about addressing their pleas. The government was under pressure to address the party's demands as the party Chairman and other leaders had resorted to hunger strike across the country. Chairman Mahato is still in hospital after his health deteriorated following the hunger strike which he staged at Shanti Batika in Ratna Park for four days last week. Mahato had resorted to fast-unto-death last Tuesday after talks with government failed. Mahato is expected to leave hospital today following the deal . He was forcefully taken to Bir Hospital on Friday after his health condition deteriorated with sharp decline in blood sodium level. Sadhbhawana constituted a three-member talks team headed by leader Laxman Lal Karna to hold talks with the government . Nawal Kishor Sah and Manish Kumar Suman were the other members of the talks team.

source: ekantipur

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