In the proposal, the ruling parties have divided parts of Madhes into more than five provinces. For instance, Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari are clubbed with the eastern hilly districts. Similarly, the eight districts stretching from Saptari to Parsa fall into another province. To the west, Kapilvastu, Rupandehi, Dang, Banke and Bardiya are part of another province while Kailali and Kanchanpur belong to another state.

In addition, the districts except the ones stretching from Saptari to Parsa are adjoined to hill districts. The Madhes-based parties say that there should not be more than two provinces in the plains. The parties advocate single autonomous province arguing that the government agreed in the past to go for one province in reference to the eight-point agreement signed with the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha in February 2008.

“We were not consulted regarding the proposal and it doesn’t carry the spirit of federalism,” said Laxman Lal Karna, the Parliamentary Party leader of the Sadbhawana Party and a key interlocutor in the inter-party talks on contentious issues of the constitution writing process.

Asked about the possible positions of the parties on state restructuring, Karna reiterated his stance of a single autonomous province. It is also important to note that all the Madhesi parties, except for the Upendra Yadav-headed Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal, had indicated their willingness to go for two provinces in the Madhes in their election manifesto for the Constituent Assembly elections held last year.

“The issue of identity has been ignored, which is not what we had agreed to,” said Yadav, a signatory to the eight-point agreement. He suggested that the parties follow either the 10-province model recommended by the State Restructuring Commission or the 14-state idea agreed to by the thematic committee of the first CA.