Nepal’s former PM Bhattarai resigns as legislator amid differences

Unhappy with the new constitution in Nepal, veteran Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai quit his party today.

At a press conference in Nepalese Capital, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, the vice president of Nepal’s UCPN (Maoist) Party announced his resignation, ending a 25-year-long association with his party.

At a press conference in Kathmandu on Saturday, Bhattarai informed journalists that he had submitted his resignation to the UCPN (M) Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

“There is no option of returning to a house you have left, an old house, a damaged house”, Mr Bhattarai said, announcing his resignation from Nepal’s national Parliament as well. He also said that he had resigned as a member of the Parliament. “But implementation of the Constitution is a big thing”, he added, pointing out the need for bringing the agitating Madhesi parties on board the main political course.

He further said that he would remain in politics independently. He had openly extended support to the Madhes-based parties and their agitations while the party chairman had urged them to begin a dialogue and join hands with the ruling Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML). He had said: “If Bhattarai quits the party, neither he nor the country will benefit from his action”. The recent violence has also sparked concern in India, which has traditionally exerted significant political influence in Nepal.

But Bhattarai was clearly not happy with the new constitution. Lawmakers finally reached agreement in June this year, spurred by a 7.8-magnitude natural disaster two months earlier that killed almost 8,900 people and destroyed more than half a million homes.