Nepal: Senior leader renounces membership with Oli-led opposition

Vice Chairman of opposition in Nepal Bamdev Gautam on Friday renounced membership with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) led by KP Sharma Oli.

Gautam, while submitting the letter of renouncement to the party Secretariat claimed that "Oli's irrational behaviour and mindset to operate the party is the reason for his latest move."

"I also had played a role during the formation of this party but your wrong thoughts, nature and work pattern has made me feel impotent and I hereby announce my resignation from the party's post of vice-chair as well as all kinds of responsibilities with immediate effect," Gautam stated in the letter to party chair KP Sharma Oli.

As per officials, Gautam submitted his resignation letter to UML Office Secretary Sher Bahadur Tamang at the party's headquarter in Thapathali.

Gautam was elected as the Vice-Chairman of the party during the Ninth General Convention of the UML.

In the past few months, he had been organising a campaign to keep the UML unity intact as Chairman KP Oli and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal were at odds.

Meanwhile, Senior leaders of the party have already formed a new party called CPN (Unified Socialist) party.

Earlier Gautam had also formed a separate party after severing ties with the UML in 1998 and formed CPN (ML). The party was later merged into the CPN-UML. Gautam has again renounced the UML's membership again after 25 years.

Gautam had also informed that leaders close to him have already joined the Nepal-led party while his wife is a member of the House of Representatives.

(ANI)