Sun, 18 October 2026
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Sun, 18 October 2026
The intra-party conflict within the CPN-UML has taken a new turn. After a year of humiliation, the party has rolled out the red carpet for former president Bidya Devi Bhandari. Party chair KP Sharma Oli appointed Bhandari as its senior leader – second in hierarchy- reversing his earlier decision to block her entry into the party. In June last year, Bhandari was denied party membership despite the fact that she renewed it. At that time, Oli felt a threat from her active engagement in the party. Now she has been accorded a respectable position just to blunt the rising call for leadership transfer and organisational overhaul within the party in the wake of the Gen Z movement and subsequent March election.
On October 8, an unusual scene was staged at the UML central office in Chyasal. Oli administered the oath of office and secrecy to Bhandari as the party's senior leader, although its statute does not have a provision for such a post. A former prime minister was administering the oath of secrecy to a former president. This not only mocks the official hierarchy set by the state but also raises a question: does it behoove her to take a plunge into politics after serving the highest position of the nation for two consecutive terms?
Impersonal institution
Although the constitution doesn't bar a past president from political engagement, the matter is more ethical than legal. The presidency is an impersonal and impartial institution. An individual must give up his/her party membership before assuming the presidency. The dignity and importance of the presidential post lie in the president's competence to defend the constitution and national interest. This requires rising above the partisan role. Even after leaving office, he/she must uphold this status. Former presidents must play a role as senior statesmen. This is a practice that is not necessarily coded in the national charter. The constitutional ethics and unwritten tradition should guide former presidents when it comes to their post-retirement role. They should be model citizens, instilling good virtues in the people. If they become active in politics under the banner of certain political parties, their prestige, integrity and public expectations will turn to dust.
As a long-time UML functionary as well as its former vice-chair, Bhandari refused to be an ideal figure in the capacity of the former head of the state. She repeatedly showed a desire to return to active politics. In the initial days, Oli had no qualms when she renewed her party membership. As Bhandari disclosed her intention to claim the party’s top post, this only got on Oli’s nerves. Sensing that her entry endangered his position, Oli taunted and demoralised her before terminating her membership through the decision of a central committee meeting. Then, the prospects of Bhandari joining the party had come to an end.
With the Gen Z movement in September 2025, everything went topsy-turvy. Oli was removed from the pedestal of power while the established political parties became defensive after the youth-led revolt swept the nation. The March 5 general elections came as a death knell for them. The Gen Z movement served as a catalytic force in pushing the demands for restructuring of the party, leadership transfer, intergenerational justice and inner-party democracy in Nepali politics. Nepali Congress attempted to address this clarion call through the special and general conventions. The second-rung leaders within the UML also realised the necessity of reforms and restructuring. Vice-chair Bishnu Poudel and general secretary Shankar Pokharel attempted to bell the cat by launching the nationwide drive to remove Oli. But their campaign could not gain momentum after chair Oli executed every trick to foil it. Now, the call for the ouster of Oli from the chairman has petered out, thanks to the pusillanimous stalwarts who dragged their feet on leadership change. Bhandari’s elevation to the post of ‘senior leader’ needs to be understood against this background.
Clear message
In May this year, she was granted membership. Earlier, the 70-year age bar and two-term limit for executive positions were removed in 2025 to allow Oli to claim another term. After the devastating poll loss, Oli’s antagonism against her mellowed. By allotting her second position in the party, Oli has given a clear message to Poudel and Pokharel: he prefers Bhandari to them if he were to pass the mantle of the leadership. Upon accepting the senior leadership role, Bhandari said that she wanted to build the party and called for evaluating the party leadership and the entire left movement. Nonetheless, Bhandari’s return to the ceremonial post does not address the challenges facing the UML as well as the communist movement. It is just a fig leaf to prevent the real changes that the UML needs at this moment of crisis.
Before the Gen Z revolt, Bhandari was seen as a consensus personality who could unite the communist parties. At that time, Oli stood against the idea of bringing her to the centre-left politics. But now she does not have much charisma either to revive the UML or glue the splinter left groups. Today’s need is the leadership transfer to the new generation of people capable of embracing the spirit of change. Good governance, corruption control, economic revival, accountability and broader reforms are some pressing agenda which the leadership must carry and implement by securing the popular mandate. The people detest the old political faces. Failure to change the leadership and restructure the party will further push the UML into a corner as the country is heading for local elections in April next year.
(The author is the Managing Editor of this daily.)
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