KATHMANDU, Oct 20: Dr Baburam Bhattarai has been named the chairman of the federal council of Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP).

An executive committee meeting of the party which is currently underway in the capital made a decision to this effect, according to Rekha Yadav, a central committee member of the party. However, the party has yet to make a formal public announcement of the decision.

Dr Bhattarai, who is also a former prime minister, was named the party’s senior leader when his party (Samajbadi Party) signed a unification deal with Rastriya Janata Party Nepal to form the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), in late April.

Although Mahantha Thakur and Upendra Yadav were picked as the party’s two executive chairmen, Dr Bhattarai was not given any responsibility in the newly-formed party.

Sources said Dr Bhattarai has now become more powerful inside the party after he became the federal council chairman. The federal council is the JSP’s ideological wing.

As per the party’s statute, the federal council is a more influential body than the party’s central committee. The party was registered at the Election Commission (EC) on June 7.

 
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