(TibetanReview.net, Apr07’25) – After failing in repeated, at times hectic, efforts to unite the two major communist parties of Nepal, China is said to have embarked on a new drive. This is said to involve sidelining their current top leaders by propping up a new set of leaders amenable to uniting the parties to from the government and carry out Beijing’s agenda. But success is by no means guaranteed, according to a swarajyamag.com report Mar 29.
The fact is, the two Communist parties have lost a lot of public goodwill and support, which has benefited the Nepali Congress (NC) and the pro-monarchists who want to restore Nepal’s constitutional monarchy and ‘Hindu rashtra’ status, the report said.
China has, over the last few years, made numerous efforts to reunite the two main communist parties of Nepal—the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre (CPN-MC). However, all have failed, despite the initial apparent success which saw them form the government as a single party in 2018, because of the irreconcilable differences and ego battles between the chairpersons of the two parties—CPN-UML’s Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli and CPN-MC’s Pushpa Kamal Dahal. There has been a merger, a breakup, an electoral alliance, a coalitions government and a parting of ways to a succession of disappointments to China.
China has now realised that with Oli and Dahal as the heads of the parties, there is little chance of the communist parties of Nepal uniting. And unless these two parties unite, the NC, which Beijing views as pro-India, will continue to be a major player in Nepal’s politics. The aim is stated to be to unite the communists to become a larger political force than the NC so that Beijing could push its agenda in Nepal with little hindrance.
For this purpose, China has initiated a “minus two” formula which entails easing out Oli and Dahal from the leaderships of their respective parties. What is working in favour of this plan is stated to be the growing unpopularity of Oli and Dahal, with both being widely perceived as power-hungry, corrupt and high-handed, completely intolerant of dissent and having propensity to bend principles to suit their ends.
Beijing is said to be fanning the flames of dissidence against the two leaders. A number of senior leaders of both these parties who had gone to China over the past few months returned and spoken out openly against their chairmen (Oli and Dahal), the report noted.
It cited senior leaders of the CPN(UML), who did not want to be named, as saying China wants former President Bidya Devi Bhandari to replace Oli. She was a senior leader of the CPN(UML) before she became the country’s President.
“She has been advised to tour the country extensively and meet grassroots level workers and functionaries of the party, as well as the common people, during her travels in order to drum up support in her favour,” which she did, an unnamed senior CPI(ML) leader who is also a minister, was quoted as saying.
“Bhandari’s growing popularity will hasten Oli’s downfall. There could be a revolt against Oli within the party and Bhandari may be made the chairperson of the party. Oli will surely be eased out. Oli is also old and ailing,” former party leader Bhim Bahadur Rawal (who was ousted from the party by Oli in January) has said.
From the CPN(MC), China is said to like to see Nepal’s former Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun (also known as Nanda Kishor Pun) take over the party leadership. He had succeeded Dahal as the chief commander of the People’s Liberation Army of Nepal (PLAN), the armed wing of the Maoists, after Dahal resigned from the post, joined mainstream politics and became the Prime Minister in Aug 2008.
While Bhandari is widely expected to announce her return to active politics soon, Pun did so in Dec 2024, and participated in the CPN(MC)’s central committee meeting in January this year.
Pun and Bhandari, whose tenures as Vice President and President were coterminus (Oct 2015 to Mar 2023), have worked together amicably and have great regard for each other. “Both share the same temperament and have a good working relationship. Bhandari and Pun will make a great team,” CPN(MC) deputy general secretary Haribol Gajurel, who was once a close advisor to Dahal but had a fallout with him, has said.
Bhandari was stated to have publicly praised Pun at a press conference while on a tour of Koshi province in January this year. “He (Pun) is experienced and still in working age. We worked together for seven years, and I am happy that he has rejoined politics. I extend my best wishes to him.”
But there are many hitches to Beijing’s plan from succeeding, primary among them being the ambitions of many senior leaders of the two parties who will surely challenge Bhandari’s and Pun’s rise and Oli and Dahal’s tight grip on their respective parties and their finances.