KATHMANDU, May 7: Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) leader Mahendra Raya Yadav has said that unification with the newly formed Samajbadi Party Nepal is the need of the people and country.

Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN) led by Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Upendra Yadav and Naya Shakti Party Nepal led by former Prime Minister Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai formally united on Monday to form Samajbadi Party, vowing to become an alternate political force in the country.

With the new party taking the agenda of constitution amendment and people’s struggle as their medium to move forward centering their politics in Terai-Madhes, RJPN seems eager to give the stalled month-long merger process another go ahead.

“We want to merge with the Samajbadi party. We did not have enough time for discussion with the FSFN. But informal negotiations are still continuing. RJPN-Samabadi merger is the need of the country and people,” said Yadav talking to Rishi Dhamala at a Nepali Radio Network program Nepali Bahas. The RJPN is currently on homework for holding its first general convention.

“The ruling party Nepal Communist Party and the main opposition party Nepali Congress are trying to force two-party system bringing the provision of five percent threshold. Therefore, unification with Samajbadi is a requisite. Our party has officially decided to merge,” he added.

At present, a party should garner three percent votes under Proportional Representation and at least one seat under the First-Past-the-Post in the elections to gain the status of the national political party.

When asked if RJPN will agree with Samajbadi party’s 11-province model for the federal structure, Yadav said that his party also demands state restructuring.

“We have demanded revision in the constitution because we disagree with the current model of province demarcation,” he said.

Also, if the unification with the Samajbadi materializes, it will put RJPN into a stronger position to bargain with the government its agenda of constitution amendment since the three-party merger will give them 34 seats in the 275-member parliament.

RJPN, in early March, withdrew its support from the government led by Nepali Communist Party Chair K P Sharma Oli, citing the prime minister failed to keep his promise of constitution amendment.

“The clause in disagreement must be amended. Consensus on the political issues we have forwarded is a must,” he said.

He also asked Prime Minister Oli to discard his arrogance of two-third majority he commands in the parliament.

“The arrogance of previous governments led to breaking of 10-yearlong Maoist insurgency. If PM Oli keeps showing his arrogance, more problems will be created. There will be no peace, good governance and stability,” he said.

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GORKHA, Nov 3: Naya Shakti Party coordinator Dr Baburam Bhattarai has said that the Naya Shakti and the Nepali Congress alliance must win the upcoming House of Representatives and State Assemblies elections for the development and prosperity of the country.

The NC has agreed to support Dr Bhattarai who is running the House of Representatives polls from Gorkha constituency-2.

Claiming that he has laid the foundation for development activities during his tenure as Prime Minister and Finance Minister in different time previously, Dr Bhattarai said his victory was essential to continue development works.

He was addressing an election campaign in Gorkha on Thursday. “My filing the candidacy is not against any others, but only for peace, the constitution enforcement and stability,” he said.

KATHMANDU, Oct 4: The ruling party Nepali Congress has termed the alliance among the leftist parties a threat to democracy.

In a dramatic turn of events, the three leftist parties, CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Center) and Naya Shakti Party formally announced the electoral alliance and unity process on Tuesday.

UML Chair KP Oli, MC Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Naya Shakti Coordinator Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai inked a six-point deal Tuesday on forging an electoral alliance, forming committees and task-forces to finalize the unification, preparing a joint manifesto for upcoming elections, preparing a party statute and other documents, and not trading blame in the transitional period, among other things.

The party also formed a joint committee led by Oli and Dahal in order to coordinate the unification process.

The unification and electoral announcement just a month before the parliamentary and province assembly elections has brought a new wave in the Nepalese politics.

The ruling party Nepali Congress described the electoral alliance among the communist parties on the eve of elections as an ‘unnatural and undemocratic step.’ Leader Nidhi said that the decision of the ruling partner MC was a big historical mistake. Leader Nidhi even claimed that the unification may even affect the election.

NC leader Chandra Bhandari argued that the unification among the leftist parties would be a threat to democracy.

NC leader Dr Ram Saran Mahat also backed Bhandari and termed the unification process as a game to end the democracy and its achievements.

Although the leftist leaders have expedited the unification talks, even some communist leaders have criticized the efforts as unification among the opportunists.

“It’s an unnatural unification process,” said Mohan Baidhya while talking to Rishi Dhamala adding, “It’s the unification of opportunists.”

“The Maoist Center is totally abandoning its revolutionary path,” he added.

“Polarization among the revolutionary forces is the today’s current need,” he further added, “Revolutionary polarization should be expedited now.”

Another leftist leader Mohan Bikram Singh welcomed the merger call and described it as a positive step.

There has been a huge political impasse in Nepalese communist movement whether which party is leftist or non-leftist; or communist or non-communist. It is a matter of a long political discussion- which needs analysis from various political angles.

GORKHA, May 9: Naya Shakti Nepal’s coordinator Dr Baburam Bhattarai has said the budget for the next fiscal year should be brought on May 29, the date set by the Constitution for presenting the budget.

The former Prime Minister who also once headed the Ministry of Finance when he was with the then UCPN (Maoist) was of the view that the second-phase local-level election be held before the budget announcement.

Talking to media persons amidst his election campaign at Paslang of Gorkha Municipality today, he said politics of power sharing had pushed the country to a chaos and defeated the democracy.

He further accused the government and ruling parties of promoting hooliganism on the eve of the election instead of focusing their attention to make the election free and impartial.

On a different note, he said Federal Socialist Forum Nepal and the Naya Shakti would sit for discussions regarding the integration between two parties after the first-phase of local level election to be held on May 14. RSS