Kathmandu, February 3:

The Joint Revolutionary People’s Council, a political front of the CPN-Maoist headed by Dr Baburam Bhattarai, has reshuffled its central committee with a view to fighting “feudalism and imperialism”.

The two-day meeting held in the capital on January 30-31 decided to form a 33-member central committee of the council.

Dev Gurung has been appointed member-secretary of the council while KB Mahara, Dinanath Sharma, Matrika Yadav, Nanda Kishor Pun, Lekh Raj Bhatta, Khadga Bahadur BK, Shivraj Gautam, Tilak Pariyar and Jayapuri Gharti are secretariat members.

Chiefs of all the sister and other fronts affiliated to the CPN-Maoist have been made members of the council.

The meeting, attended by party chairman Prachanda, decided to “expose the conspiracy of the royalists who are inciting violence in the name of the Madhesis, indigenous people and nationalities”, but decided to support the just demands of the Madhesis, indigenous people and the nationalities.

The party also reinforced the need to immediately declare the country a democratic republic, go for a proportionate representation in the constituent assembly polls and take action against those indicted by the Rayamajhi Commission, according to a press statement issued by Bhattarai today.