"I would rather die than surrender to injustice," is Baburam Bhattarai's motto. Party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal's allegation that Bhattarai is subservient to India has challenged the latter to defend that belief.

Dahal was accompanied by Bhattarai to his first public appearance in Baluwatar, just before the signing of the CPA, and they have appeared side by side many times since. They even lived together for some time in Nayabajar after they came overground. Their camaraderie was likened to that between a nail and flesh. Over time, a split appeared between this nail and flesh into which Dahal has now sprinkled salt with his assertions that Bhattarai is India's candidate for prime minister. Now it is said they barely talk to each other, and that the clash has more to do with personality than principle.

Here's a brief timeline of the Dahal-Bhattarai relationship:

1981: The leaders meet for the first time at the All Nepal Bharat Students Association conference in Benares.
1984: They are acquainted politically at the National Conference of the CPN Fourth Convention, though they are in different parties.
1992: Dahal becomes the chairman and Bhattarai the coordinator of the electoral front of a new party, the United People's Front.
1995: Bhattarai works as a senior leader during the 'people's movement'. Dahal is the chairman and Bhattarai the coordinator of the parallel government.
1998: Differences surface regarding the division of authority at the fourth extensive meeting of the party.
2004: Bhattarai is labelled an anarchist for a note of dissent he put to the central committee meeting. He is under PLA house arrest for a year.
2006: Both leaders appear together publicly in Baluwatar.