KATHMANDU: Former President Bidya Devi Bhandari, who has intensified a parallel line of struggle within the ruling CPN-UML, is preparing to formally register a dissenting opinion under the leadership of Senior Vice-Chair Ishwar Pokharel.
At the upcoming Statute Convention scheduled for September 5–7 in Godavari, Lalitpur, the Bhandari camp aims to present its official dissenting document, escalating the internal dispute into an open two-line struggle.
Earlier, UML Chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had decided not to renew Bhandari’s party membership, despite his past public statements that a former president’s return to politics would not be problematic. The move, however, has triggered discontent within the party’s committees from local to provincial levels, with leaders warning it could hurt UML in the 2027 elections.
Bhandari has already opened a liaison office in Thapagaun, Kathmandu, on August 21, reviving political activities from the same location once associated with her late husband, leader Madan Bhandari.
Central Committee meeting postponed
A Central Committee meeting scheduled for August 29 was abruptly postponed to September 4, just a day before the Statute Convention, citing the need to compile statute amendment proposals arriving late from across the country.
However, the delay is widely seen as Oli’s maneuver to buy time amid preparations by Pokharel to submit a three-page dissenting document criticizing the decision to block Bhandari and challenging Oli’s centralized style of leadership.
Vice-Chair Surendra Pandey and Standing Committee member Karna Bahadur Thapa have also insisted that the dissent must be formally tabled and debated.
Convention at risk of delay
While UML has officially maintained that the Statute Convention will take place on September 5–7, Oli’s back-to-back foreign visits, China and India , may become grounds for another postponement.
If held on schedule, the Convention will bring together 2,379 representatives from the 2021 General Convention. It is expected to debate Oli’s political report, Vice-Chair Bishnu Poudel’s draft statute, and General Secretary Shankar Pokharel’s organizational report.
The Bhandari camp, however, plans to counter by raising questions on the implementation of People’s Multiparty Democracy, Oli’s “authoritarian tendencies,” and pushing to retain the 70-year age limit and two-term ceiling in the party statute.
Celebration vs. confrontation
Oli’s faction wants to project the Statute Convention as a “celebration” of UML unity and his leadership, as reflected in the official posters prominently featuring him at the center while minimizing other leaders and ideological figures.
The Bhandari faction, in contrast, is preparing to turn the event into a platform of resistance, ensuring that their dissenting document challenges Oli’s authority and asserts an alternative line within UML.
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