Former Nepal Police IGP Sarbendra Khanal has joined the main opposition party CPN-UML.
UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli ushered Khanal, who retired after serving the police force for 30 years, into the party amidst a program held at the party office in Chyasal on Thursday.
Khanal, who was promoted to IGP by the then Oli government in April 2018, had reached Oli's residence at Balkot Wednesday to discuss about joining the party. A UML source claimed that Oli is ready to field Khanal as UML candidate for the House of Representatives (HoR) from Bara, Parsa or Kathmandu district.
The then Socialist Party Nepal lawmaker Surendra Yadav had lodged a police complaint in April 2020 accusing Khanal who had retired then, and the then CPN lawmakers Mahesh Basnet (currently with UML) and Kisan Shrestha—now with CPN (Unified Socialist)—of abducting him.
The then Socialist Party leaders had claimed that Yadav was abducted on instruction of the then prime minister Oli to engineer a split in the party.
Former Bibeksheel Sajha Party leader Abdus Miya, General Secretary of Rastriya Punarjagaran Party Ravi Kiran Khanal, Janata Samajwadi Party leader Hari Lal Chaudhary and others also joined UML on Thursday.
