Top Maoist leader Bhattarai quits party, Parliament
28 Sept 2015 4:47 AM IST
Bhattarai, a veteran leader of the Unified CPN-Maoist, was the senior-most leader after party chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal, popularly known as ‘Prachanda’. Bhattarai, who spent his years as a student at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and is said to have close links with India, has been sympathetic to the agitation launched by Madhesi parties demanding more rights and representation to the people residing in the southern plains of Nepal.
He has consistently attacked lawmakers, including members of his own party, for not taking minorities’ concerns into account during the drafting of the new Constitution -- Nepal’s first by elected representatives.
The 61-year-old leader has indicated that he would form a new political “force” within a couple of months.
“Effective from today’s date I have resigned from all obligations, responsibilities at all levels as well as general membership of the UCPN Maoists,” Bhattarai told reporters.
“I will now do what I can as a citizen of this country...as long as I am alive I will work for the country and the people,” he said.
He also appeared to distance himself from the Maoist ideology and said Maoism has become irrelevant and obsolete in today’s world. He has indicated that his new party would be democratic in nature.
Bhattarai’s decision has given a big jolt to the UCPN-M as he leads a strong faction within the party, say insiders. The UCPN-M has 124 seats in the 601-member Parliament. Party sources say nearly half of the Maoist lawmakers are likely to toe Bhattarai’s line.
During a press conference, Bhattarai said he would visit cities in the troubled Terai region, some of which are close to the Nepal-Indian border, in a few days to understand the situation there. Bhattarai will visit Biratnagar, Janakpur, Nawalparasi and Nepalgunj in southern Nepal. But he would first visit Janakpur on Tuesday, his close aides said.
The Terai region (plains) has been on the boil since the new Constitution was debated. The Madhesis, Indian-origin inhabitants of the plains, are up against the new charter, alleging that it doesn’t protect their rights and interests.
Nepal protests: Clashes erupt at Nepalgunj border
Clashes broke out on Saturday between protesters opposing Nepal’s new Constitution and security personnel in Nepalgunj district near the border with India, injuring at least nine people, as the unrest over the promulgation of the statute refused to die down.
Clashes ensued between cadres of the Madhesi Front and security personnel at the Nepalgunj border, leaving four security personnel and five demonstrators injured.
The Madhesi cadres reached Rupaidiya customs point this morning to create obstruction as part of their protest programme. When police tried to disperse the crowd, the protesters resorted to stone pelting. The injured people were being treated in Nepalgunj. The clashes near the border came a day after hundreds of protesters opposing the new Constitution blocked a key trade checkpoint on the Indo-Nepal border.
India had on Friday again pressed for addressing of the unrest in this country “credibly and effectively”. Hundreds of trucks loaded with essential goods, cooking gas cylinders and petroleum products are stalled at the Nepal-India border due to the ongoing agitation in the Terai plains of the Himalayan nation.
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