Palungtar(Gorkha), November 18

Naya Shakti Party-Nepal Coordinator Baburam Bhattarai today said he had not renounced Marxism yet.

Addressing a joint meeting organised by his party and the Nepali Congress at Palungtar, Bhattarai said bogus communists had accused him of abandoning Marxism.

“Even if Marx and Lenin were alive, they would forge a democratic alliance,” Bhattarai claimed. He said the CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre’s one-party communist totalitarianism would make country economically dependent on others and beget unemployment problem in the country.

Targeting the left alliance, Bhattarai said, “I am in door to door campaign soliciting votes via road. How can those leaders who charter chopper to solicit votes be Marxists?” Bhattarai asked. He said West Bengal was once a prosperous state of India and now it had become one of the impoverished states after three decades of Communist rule.

Bhattarai argued that the Nepali Congress was the leftist power in the context of Nepal.

“CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre are no longer communist parties,” Bhattarai added. He said he was ready to take moral responsibility of the incidents that happened during the Maoist insurgency.

Bhattarai flayed his rival Narayankaji Shrestha, candidate from the left alliance, calling him a tourist. “He was in hibernation during the insurgency. He joined the useless Maoist party for an opportunity,” Bhattarai said. Referring to his classmate Upendra Devkota, Bhattarai said that he was able to become board first due to positive consequences of Devkota’s protest. He expressed confidence to win polls this time around. He asked his classmate Devkota not to try short-cut to become minister as he did during ex king Gyanendra’s direct rule.

Bhattarai stressed the need to develop IT park, airport and tourism, among other areas, to make Gorkha a prosperous district.

At the programme, Nepali Congress leader Ramchandra Paudel accused the left alliance of trying to push the country into conflict and chaos. He urged NC cadres and NC supports to vote Bhattarai forgetting the past.