UML Janjati leaders to quit party early Oct
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KATHMANDU, SEP 24 - In their bid to form a new political force committed to federal socialism, disgruntled Janajati and Madhesi leaders from the CPN-UML have decided to quit their party in the first week of October.
Four to five key leaders from each district favouring the move to form a new force have been invited to a national gathering in the Capital that will take a call on the issue.
Leaders said quitting the UML will create the foundation for the new party. The dissident leaders claimed they were preparing to quit the UML as the party failed to come up with a clear position on ensuring identity-based federalism.
"We are preparing to quit the party on October 4. The call to quit the party is a symbolic gesture for the formation of a new party. It will be an emancipation from political slavery," said Ajambar Rai Kangmang, a key dissident leader.
In the October gathering, vice-chairman Ashok Rai will present a proposal elaborating on the current political situation and a possible way forward.
Kangmang, Rai, Rajendra Shrestha, Ram Chandra Jha, Rakam Chemjong, Bijaya Subba and Rijwan Ansari are among the leaders who have decided to quit the party.
The dissident Janajati leaders have formed a Janajati nuclei in around three dozen districts where they have strongholds. Jha has organised cadres under the banner of the agragami bichar samuha (progressive idealist group) in the Tarai. He is supposedly the most influential UML leader in the Tarai region. Under him, the UML bagged four seats under the first-past-the-post electoral system in Constituent Assembly (CA) elections in 2008.
As part of their preparations to form the new party, the dissident leaders have already drafted a statute, a manifesto and the guiding principle of the new party.
Shrestha said the documents are being studied by Janajati intellectuals and leaders of smaller parties. "We are holding interactions to discuss the documents," Shrestha said.
The leaders are, however, yet to decide on the day they will announce the formation of the new party. "We are holding consultations with intellectuals and other groups, and, as such, it will not take much time," said Kangmang. Ashok Rai is supposed to lead the party.
Three key Janajati leaders--Prithivi Subba Gurung, Kiran Gurung and Dal Bahadur Gurung--have, however, decided to remain in the UML. They believe that the issue of identity can be ensured in the political front by continuing an intra-party struggle.
Posted on: 2012-09-24 04:00
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