Baburam Bhattarai is ready to rejoin the UCPN (Maoist) if Pushpa Kamal Dahal steps downs as the party chairman and takes drastic measures to reform the party, leaders close to Bhattarai have said.

Several leaders that the Post spoke to said Bhattarai’s first priority is to form a new political force on the foundation of the UCPN (Maoist)—which means reforming the party to address the aspirations of the new generation.

Only if this does not pan out, will he think about forming a new party, leaders said. This is precisely why several Maoist leaders close to Bhattarai such as Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Devendra Poudel and Kumar Poudel have not left the party yet. “If Dahal steps down after reforming the party, Baburamji will return to the party,” said Kumar Poudel, a leader close to Bhattarai.

He held a solo press conference on Saturday. “This means he does not want to give an impression that he is splitting the party like Mohan Baidya did in 2012,” a leader close to him said on condition of anonymity. According to party insiders, Bhattarai is proposing to rename the party and restructure it. Though Bhattarai left the party, he did not request his supporters to quit the UCPN (Maoist) immediately. Along with Bhattarai, key Maoist leaders from Madhes, including Prabhu Sah, Ram Chandra Jha and Mahendra Paswan, have not attended the party’s Central Committee that began on Sunday.