The Baburam Bhattarai-led Nepal Samajwadi Party (NSP) has expelled leaders including Chairman Mahindra Raya Yadav from the party.
Yadav is a member of the House of Representatives. He won the election on CPN (Maoist Center)’s symbol from the Sarlahi-2 constituency in 2022.
NSP has also expelled Joint Chairman and Bagmati Provincial Assembly member Ganga Narayan Shrestha.
Shrestha was elected to the provincial assembly on Maoist Center’s symbol from the Sindhuli-2(b) constituency in 2022. He is the minister for internal affairs and law in the Bagmati government.
Similarly, NSP has expelled Ramesh Prasad Yadav from the party.
During a meeting held at Baluwatar on March 16, the three leaders had agreed to unite the party with Maoist Center. Chairman Bhattarai was opposed to the party unification.
Issuing a statement on Sunday, NSP office chief Roshan Pokharel said that the party had informed the Election Commission about the expulsion of the leaders and that the Election Commission has updated their details.
NSP has also directed the party’s committees and members to report to the central office if the expelled leaders are found using the party’s name, election symbol, logo and flag.
Earlier, Maoist Center had taken action against NSP leader Phanindra Devkota for “violating whip” after he crossed the floor to vote for Chief Minister of Gandaki province Surendra Raj Pandey. Devkota was elected to the Gandaki Provincial Assembly from Gorkha-2(a) on Maoist Center’s election symbol in 2022.
Chief Minister Pandey had appointed Devkota as energy minister. Devkota lost his position as lawmaker and minister following the Maoist Center’s action against him.
Despite the agreement on unification between Maoist Center and the Yadav faction of NSP, the unification process has not moved ahead for nearly three months.
