Former comrades Baburam Bhattarai, coordinator of the Naya Shakti Party, Nepal, and Narayan Kaji Shrestha, senior leader of the CPN (Maoist Centre), have traded barbs after their nomination in Gorkha-2 on Sunday for a federal parliament seat.

As part of their campaigns, they organised separate press meets in the district headquarters on Monday.

Former prime minister Bhattarai, who won from Gorkha-2 and 1 in the Constituent Assembly I and II, respectively, filed his nomination as a common candidate of the Nepali Congress-led ‘democratic alliance’ while Shrestha is fielded by the leftist bloc.

Bhattarai apparently quit the left alliance after the Maoist Centre refused to accept him as the candidate for Gorkha-2. In a later arrangement, the NC supported Bhattarai in Gorkha-2 while the Naya Shakti would vote for Congress candidate Chinkaji Shrestha in Gorkha-1.

Bhattarai told journalists on Monday that he was forced to quit the alliance of the CPN-UML and the Maoist Centre due to the two parties’ “prohibitory policy” and their “tactics”. He charged that the UML and the Maoists were working to grab power rather than ultimately merging the parties as announced earlier this month.

Citing their refusal to field him in Gorkha-2, former prime minister Bhattarai said it was natural for him to contest the polls from his birthplace.

Shrestha accused that Bhattarai had demonstrated double standard by quitting the “communist revolution” after waging an armed struggle against the state. “The left alliance will win the elections and form a stable government. Baburam can do nothing,” Shrestha attacked Bhattarai personally after his nomination on Sunday. He had called Bhattarai an unstable leader.