Around 50 Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal leaders, including five central committee members, have quit the party en masse.

Expressing serious reservations about the working style of the party leadership, Rijwan Ansari, Bir Bahadur Lama, Norsang Sherpa, Rajkumar Yadav and Rameshwor Yadav and others deserted the party, hardly eight months after it was formed.  

The defectors were supporters of SSFN Chairman Upendra Yadav and senior leader Ashok Rai who in June last year had formed the party after merging three regional parties.  

In a statement, the deserters have accused Yadav and Rai of failing to democratise the party. They also criticised the duo’s “dictatorial working style”.

The party has not been able to assign duties to most of its leaders even after months, which has resulted in widespread discontentment among the central and district level leadership.

The SSFN was formed when the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal, the Federal Socialist Party Nepal and the Khas Samabesi Party came together.