KATHMANDU: Two CPN Maoist Centre leaders defected to the Nepali Congress on Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the Nepali Congress central office.

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba gave general membership of the party to Maoist central members Jagadish Pal and Paramananda Bhatta, and Nilam Saud, who was Doti chief of the CPN-UML's youth wing, at the party's central office in Sanepa today.

Senior leaders of the party, including Ram Chandra Paudel, General Secretary Shashank Koirala and other Central Working Committee members, were present on the occasion.

Pal and Bhatta are from Doti district.