Kathmandu (dpa) - Members from the largest party in Nepal's recently dissolved parliament announced Monday that the party was splitting in two.
A faction of the United Communist Party of Nepal (UCPN)-Maoist, led by Vice Chairman Mohan Baidhya, is set to break away from the party to form the Communist Party of Nepal, Maoist. It would be headed by Baidhya and would be officially launched on Tuesday.
On Monday, Baidhya announced that his backers had severed ties from the UCPN-Maoist. The new party has 75 central committee members.
"We have formally split from the UCPN-Maoist and have named the newly formed party CPN, Maoist with the ideology based on the people's revolt," faction leader Netra Bikram Chand told the press.
The dissent faction led by Baidhya had been at loggerheads with the establishment faction led by party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal over a number of issues. The Baidhya faction, which is considered hard line, accused the establishment faction of toning down their party line after joining the mainstream.
"We entered the people's war to carry out a democratic revolution centred on the establishment of a people's federal republic," Baidhya said in an interview with the Republica daily last week. "The chairman abandoned that tactical line in favor of a democratic republic."
Dahal sought unsuccessfully to sort out differences with Baidhya a number of times last week.
The UCPN-Maoists waged a decade-long civil war which ended in 2006 with the signing of a peace pact with the government. More than 16,000 people were killed in the conflict. In 2008, the party became the largest elected party in the Constituent Assembly, marking its entry to mainstream politics.
The party currently leads the caretaker government. Nepal plunged into political crisis on May 27 after the Constituent Assembly met its demise after failing to write a constitution within its deadline.
Caretaker Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai announced a fresh constituent assembly election for November, just as the old assembly expired. But the announcement has been contested by various sides, including the Baidhya faction, which wants Bhattarai to resign.
On Monday, Bhattarai was greeted with protests on his way to the airport, as he left the country for Brazil to attend the Rio plus 20 summit.
Protesters representing opposition parties demanded he step down, clashed with police and attacked government vehicles.
"We stand at a time when different ethnic groups have been waging their own revolutions, demanding recognition," said Anil Thapa, journalist and political analyst.
"It is likely that the Baidhya faction could take such groups under its wings to make their party stronger."
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