UCPN-Maoist leaders loyal to Baburam Bhattarai quit party

Kathmandu / November 03: More than one month after Dr Baburam Bhattarai resigned from the UCPN (Maoist), total 40 Maoist central leaders, who are loyal to Baburam Bhattarai, left the party en masse, saying they would now work on to form a new political force.

Maoist ideologue Bhattarai had severed ties with the Maoist party on September 26 and announced that he would form a new political force as an alternative to the existing parties.

Those who have resigned from the party include Hisila Yami, Ram Chandra Jha, Raj Kumar Sharma, Khimlal Devkota, Debendra Parajuli, Kalpana Dhamala, Kumar Poudel, Ganga Narayan Shrestha and Rajendra Kirati among others.

Chief Secretary of the party Hitraj Pandey however claimed that the party leaders lodged an application with the party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, demanding that they be allowed to participate in a ‘new force’ which Dr Bhattarai is planning to form.

Pandey informed that the party leaders filed an application to join the New force but did not resign from the party. The Maoist leader Ram Rijhan Yadav, however, said that a total of 45 the party leaders including him have quit the party en masse from Tuesday. He said that the party leaders who have resigned would participate in the new force to be formed reportedly by Dr Bhattarai.

“We resigned even from the post of general member of the Maoist. The party failed to adopt a clear concept on the issue of the Tarai-Madhes. It also participated in the new government under the leadership of CPN-UML, instead of advocating forming a national consensus government,” Yadav said, adding that so they resigned.

Dr. Bhattrai wanted to split the party but as Nepali people are fed-up with different communist factions, he tactfully raised the issue of forming new force and taking Maoist and cadres from his mother party. He is also trying to lure some entrepreneurs, intellectuals and leaders with clean image from other political party to justify his move to split the party as a formation of new force.