Protesters force Bhattarai to cut short Janakpur visit, greet with black flags

JANAKPUR, Sept 29: Demonstrators have forced former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, who arrived here to announce his support to Madhesh protest, to cut short his visit on Tuesday.

Bhattarai participated in a brief interaction with UCPN (Maoist) leaders Ram Kumar Sharma, Ram Chandra Jha, Ram Rijhan Yadav, Coordinator of Tarai Madhes National Campaign JP Gupta and some local leaders soon after his arrival by air.

He then left for airport after addressing a program at Gopal Dharmashala for 12 minutes. Earlier today, the agitating Madheshi Front decided to allow Bhattarai to enter Janakpur on condition of setting the copies of the new constitution on fire. Despite the decision, he was greeted with black flags on his way to Janakpur from airport.

He left for airport cutting short his speech after audiences urged him to burn copies of the constitution. Protesters later trashed leaders Jha, Yadav and Sharma for failing to keep up their words. Police rescued the leaders and kept them under its custody.