Bista, who was with Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist after the split of UCPN(Maoist), said that he quit the Maoist party after being disillusioned by Maoist leaders´ empty rhetoric. UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal welcomed them with garlands during the function.[break]
Bista had secured 13,155 votes in the last CA election, while Nepali Congress candidate with over 19,000 votes won the seat. “I worked as a UML member for 17 years but for some years I deviated to the radical left as I believed that a communist regime might be established directly through people´s movement,” said Bista. “But I became disillusioned by the lifestyle of Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Baburam Bhattarai and their corrupt ways.”
Other Maoist cadres, including former company vice-commander of the Maoist army Damma Sunar, UCPN (Maoist) state committee member Jaybir Budha, Arjun Katuwal, Sher Bahadur Khadka, Upendra Bista and Maniram Padhaya, among scores of others from Bajura district joined the party, said a statement issued by CPN-UML politburo member Prithivi Subba Gurung on Thursday.
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