Nepal: Leaders of Revolutionary Maoists Baidya, Badal condemn Kishenji killing; Prachanda and Bhattarai still silent

	REPUBLICA KATHMANDU, Dec 1: The Mohan Baidya faction of the UCPN (Maoist) on Thursday issued a separate statement condemning the killing of Indian Maoist leader Mallojula Koteswara Rao a.k.a. Kishenji by the Indian security forces in the dense forest of Burishol, near West Bengal-Jharkhand border on Nov 24. “We strongly condemn the killing of Kishenji in the name of encounter, and demand the central as well as West Bengal government to form a panel to investigate the incident and bring the guilty to book,” states a press statement undersigned by Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya and General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa. While expressing condolence over the death, Thapa and Baidya have “expressed solidarity with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in such a sad moment”. Party establishment leaders said they were unaware about such statement. “I have not seen any such statement,” said Maoist spokesman Dinanath Sharma from the party establishment. He added that the party has not discussed issuing any statement condemning the killing. The CPI (Maoist), which had close ties with the Nepali Maoists during the insurgency, has lately condemned the political line of the UCPN (Maoist) as “serious ideological deviation.” The Indian Maoists have lately developed ties with Baidya, and asked the latter to split the party if needed. CPI (Maoist) politburo member Rao, who was also the party´s military leader, had played crucial role to reignite insurgency in West Bengal. The Indian government in June 2009 declared CPI (Maoist) as terrorist organization.
Published on 2011-12-01