Cadres loyal to Dahal, Bhattarai clash in Birgunj
At least a dozen people were injured when two camps of UCPN (M) cadres—one aligned to Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and another close to leader Baburam Bhattarai— clash ed here in Birgunj today. Local leaders, cadres and a media person have been injured during the clash .
The clash erupted after local leaders and cadres close to Chairman Dahal tried to interfere in a press meet organised by cadres loyal to leader Bhattarai at Hotel Samjhana.
A group of youth led by Sujit Giri, who is close to Chairman Dahal, suddenly attacked the press meet organised by the cadres of dissenting faction of the party, party sources said.
The press meet was organised by UCPN (Maoist) former district secretary and office member Jogendra Shah, coordinator of Parsa Constituency- 4 Hira Shah, district member Jafar Ansari, State Committee member Sushil Singh, Binayak Shah, Raju Baitha, Sunil Rauniyar, among other leaders, and cadres to express dissatisfaction over the unilateral selection of PR candidates.
Chairman of the Revolutionary Journalist Association, RK Patel, is among those injured. Patel informed that the index finger of his right hand has been broken.
According to police, one dozen UCPN (Maoist) cadres including Parshuram Kushwaha, Birendra Shah, Anil Shah and Om Prakash Shah have been injured in the clash and they have been taken to Narayani Sub-regional Hospital for treatment.
Police reached the incident site as soon as the clash broke and took the situation under control.
