According to party Vice-chairman Ashok Rai, who himself was among those deserting the party, a total of 517 party leaders working at various levels from 61 districts deserted the party. [break]
Besides Rai, Bijay Subba, Rajendra Shrestha, Rizwan Ansari, Mangal Siddhi Manandhar, Pasang Sherpa, Bir Bahadur Lama, Ajambar Rai, Hemraj Rai and Majhilal Tharu were among those deserting the party.
The leaders have severed ties with UML , being unhappy with the party leadership’s stance on federalism. They had long lobbied within the party, demanding that the leadership stand in favor of single identity-based federalism, which the leadership refused.
The dissident leaders have already announced that they would launch a new party to lobby for their cause at the political level.
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