Kathmandu, March 19:

Rabindra Shrestha, who was a politburo member of the CPN-Maoist before he deserted the party two years ago, today joined the CPN-UML to “form a unified Communist Party”.

He had quit the CPN-Maoist on March 13, 2006, saying that the party gave up the agenda of republic when the party signed the 12-point agreement with the then agitating seven-party alliance in November 2005 and it did not entertain inner-party democracy within the party rank and file.

“My entry into the UML fold can be taken as my effort towards building a unified Communist Party. It is quite useless to have various communist parties as the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist both have accepted competitive multi-party democracy to transform society through peaceful means,” Shrestha said during a press conference organised at the UML party headquarters in Balkhu.

UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal welcomed Shrestha into the party fold and said that a standing committee meeting held on Monday also decided to induct him as the full-fledged central committee member of the party.

Talking about the electoral alliance, Nepal said his party wanted to ensure victory of top leaders of the major political parties in the CA election, at least from one of the constituencies they have being contesting.

Nepal was hinting at Maoist chairman Prachanda who is contesting the CA election from Rolpa-2 and Kathmandu-10. Nepal hinted at supporting Prachanda in Rolpa district, not in Kathmandu.