Dissidents of the Naya Shakti Nepal led by Devendra Poudel are all set to join the CPN (Maoist Centre) by Tuesday along with some 150 central members.

After the failure of unity talks with the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal, the Devendra Poudel-led team of around one-and-a-half-dozen leaders had urged the Naya Shakti leadership to devise a policy for alliance with “pro-change forces” including the Maoist Centre. However, Naya Shakti coordinator Baburam Bhattarai refused to budge.

Following the decision of the party’s former organisational department chief Poudel to form the Brihat Dhrubikaran Samayojan Samiti on Friday, the Naya Shakti Nepal had expelled all the 17 members from the party.

According to dissident leader Pasang Sherpa, the group had a discussion with Maoist Centre leaders Ram Bahadur Thapa and Barsha Man Pun before deciding to merge with the Maoists by Tuesday.

“Unification of provincial and district committees would follow,” Sherpa said. The meeting was attended by Poudel, Sherpa, Bamdev Kshetri, Sushila Shripaili and Amardhoj Lama, among others.

Cadres led by two top Madhesi leaders Ram Chandra Jha and Ram Kumar Sharma, who had left the Naya Shakti earlier, are joining the Maoist Centre on Sunday.