Naya Shakti Nepal staged a sit-in at Bhadrakali in the Capital on Friday to protest the 25-point joint communiqué signed during Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s India visit. The party led by former Maoist ideologue Baburam Bhattarai has said the joint communiqué is against Nepal’s national interests. The new party also opposed three major parties’ decisions to turn the existing Ilakas (area clusters) into local bodies calling it a regressive move that goes against the spirit of federalism. The demonstration was also against the artificial shortage of goods during the festivals, inflation, black marketeering, and transport syndicates. Participants including Bhattarai asked the government to scrap the joint communiqué and address other problems affecting the general public.