UML DISSIDENTS CLOSE TO FORMING NEW PARTY Kathmandu, 23 July: Dissident central member of the CPN-UML, Rajendra Shrestha, has said that they are in final preparations to open a new party, RSS reports from Bhaktapur.. At an interaction organised by Rafat Comunication Club, Bhaktapur, here today, Shrestha said that they have reached the final stage to open a new party after the CPN-UML moved ahead by neglecting voices raised on the issues of ethnic identity. He said that there is no alternative to splitting the party if the decision of making federalism with multi-identity was not corrected, which he said was against the decision made by the Eighth General Convention. Shrestha said that dictatorial tendency has been ruling the roost in the party though the CPN-UML claims that the party is in favour of pluralism. He commented that the party is not always liberal on the issues of ethnicity, and added that he has been compelled to remain in the same post for the past 20 years as he is from a nationalities community. nnnn MATRIKA YADAV FAVOURS REVOLUTIONARY FRONT Kathmandu, 23 July: Chairman of CPN (Maoist) Matrika Prasad Yadav has stressed that a joint government of revolutionary forces be formed to draft a pro-people Constitution, RSS reports from Kanchanpur.. Talking to journalists at Belauri in Kanchanpur district today, Yadav claimed that his party was ready to go to any extreme nature of agitation for the formation of a joint government of revolutionists and thereby draft a pro-people constitution. Though the Nepali people have been fighting for positive changes in the country since 2007 BS, achievements of the past movements could not be protected as political leaders failed to do so. Stating that rural people have still been deprived of even the basic medicines, he expressed the concern over 'lifetime' State facilities and perks enjoyed by political leaders. On another note, Yadav said that the nation will plunge into ethnic crisis if federal states are carved out on the basis of ethnicity. nnnn