Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Former CPN-UML Vice Chairperson Bhim Rawal has joined the Nepali Communist Party (NCP).
Rawal had launched the Motherland Awareness Campaign with a long-term plan to establish a new party after he was sacked by the UML last year.
UML sacked him on disciplinary grounds after he contested the election for the post of Chairperson against KP Sharma Oli during the party’s 10th General Convention held in Sauraha. Oli’s camp had offered him the post of Vice Chairperson.
According to NCP leaders, Rawal will hold the sixth position in the party hierarchy.
NCP was formed on November 5 with the merger of 10 leftist parties, including the CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN (Unified Socialist).
Although Rawal was a strong critic of the leadership and working style of CPN-UML Chairperson Oli, he chose to stay with the party even though other leaders, under the leadership of Madhav Kumar Nepal, split from the party to form Unified Socialist. While with the UML, Rawal was regarded as the most influential UML leader in the Sudurpashchim Province.
Once a fierce critic of Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the former Chairperson of the Maoist Center and coordinator of the NCP, Rawal has now chosen to work in the same camp.
