Kathmandu, March 16: CPN (UML) Vice Chair Bamdev Gautam has refuted the statement by Nepali Congress leader Khum Bahadur Khadka that Gautam had decided to split from the party in the past following the suggestions of Khadka.

Gautam who remains an influential leader in the party had decided to isolate from the CPN (UML) in 2054 BS to form the CPN (ML), and it later had reunified with the mother party.

In a press statement Wednesday, former Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Gautam argued that he had no immediate meeting with leader Khadka before and after the party break up. "I was in no need of consulting Khadka before breaking away from the party and I never felt the necessity for the same. I had not taken any monetary assistance as well to split the party," he said. RSS