CPN-UML Senior Vice-chair Ishwar Pokhrel has formally announced his claim to the party chair.

The UML convened a Secretariat meeting at the party office in Chyasal on Thursday, for the first time since the Gen Z uprising in early September. The party office was set on fire during the protest.

The party’s 50th Secretariat meeting discussed preparations for the party’s 11th National General Convention to be held on December 13-15, as well as the demonstrations planned for November 22 in Kathmandu among other issues.

The UML has been saying that it will exert pressure both through the streets and the court for the reinstatement of the House of Representatives which was dissolved days after the September 8–9 revolt ousted then prime minister KP Sharma Oli. During the protests, the ruling party saw its offices vandalised and burnt, notably the Chayasal head office.

Earlier, Pokhrel had expressed his intention to contest the top party leadership. Besides declaring it at various forums, he also disclosed his plan to the Post earlier this month. However, Pokhrel had not presented it to a party meeting so far.

Pokharel told the Secretariat meeting that he is ready to contest, a UML leader told the Post. “He also urged Oli to step aside and take up an advisory role in the party, like its guardian,” the secretariat member said.

Deputy General Secretary Pradeep Gyawali, briefing the media after the meeting, said that party chair Oli takes the challenge as a natural process of the general convention.

Oli expressed his concern that leaders defeated at previous general conventions had created rifts within the party, and that such a situation should not be repeated this time, Gyawali said.

Oli claimed that Madhav Kumar Nepal triggered divisions in the party after losing the chair at the ninth general convention in 2014. Bhim Rawal, he accused, played a similar role after being defeated for the top post at the tenth convention in 2021.

The UML had already decided to reduce its 19-member secretariat to 15 members, a decision that was endorsed by the party’s second National Statute Convention concluded on September 7.

With this decision, the position of senior vice-chair will also cease to exist after the upcoming general convention. The decision is also said to have goaded the senior vice-chair, Pokhrel, to lay his claim to the top UML position.

In the UML secretariat, Secretary Top Bahadur Rayamajhi remains suspended as he is in judicial custody in connection with the fake Bhutanese refugee scam.

Among the remaining 18 members, vice-chairs Yubaraj Gyawali, Asta Laxmi Shakya, Surendra Pandey, and Bishnu Paudel, along with secretaries Yogesh Bhattarai and Gokarna Bista, reportedly back Pokhrel.

According to a secretariat member, intensive discussions are underway with other leaders to garner support for Pokhrel.

Apart from Vice-chair Guru Ghimire, General Secretary Shankar Pokhrel, and deputy general secretaries Pradeep Gyawali and Bishnu Rimal, other secretariat members are expected to join Pokhrel’s panel, a party office-bearer said.

It’s unclear who will contest the post of general secretary on Pokhrel’s side. The group awaits the decision of Deputy General Secretary Prithvi Subba Gurung on whom to back for the top party role.

Gurung is said to prefer contesting for general secretary from Oli’s side, but within that panel, the current general secretary, Shankar Pokhrel, seeks to continue for another term. If Shankar Pokhrel gives up the position, Pradeep Gyawali is likely to be the panel’s candidate for the post, which would reduce Gurung’s chances.

In such a situation, leaders say that if Gurung joins the Pokhrel panel, they are prepared to offer him the general secretary candidacy. “There is no problem over other posts in our panel. If Gurung does not join, we will finalise the general secretary and other positions as the general convention approaches,” a leader said on the condition of anonymity to discuss the developments.

As head of the government at the time of Gen Z protest, Oli was the main target of the youths who were on the streets against corruption. In the ensuing violence, 76 people lost their lives in total.

On the first day of protests, 19 unarmed demonstrators, mostly young students, were killed. Violent demonstrations spread across the country the following day. As the situation escalated, Oli was forced to flee the prime minister’s residence and was evacuated by an army helicopter.

However, as the movement gradually subsided, Oli began to sharply criticise the Gen Z protests.

The Gen Z movement raised questions about Oli’s political relevance, yet he is preparing to continue on the party chair. He secured legal grounds for his re-election through the party’s Second National Statute Convention, which concluded on September 7, a day before the Gen Z protests shook the country.

Earlier, there had been an internal debate in the UML over whether to remove the age limit of 70 years and the two-term restriction for the leadership. However, the statute convention removed both checks, clearing the way for Oli’s continued leadership, as the septuagenarian leader now serves his second term as party chief.

Similarly, former President Bidya Devi Bhandari, who had renewed her party membership and expressed interest in returning to the party’s fold, has had her membership revoked, apparently at Oli’s behest. Bhandari, who is in her early sixties, had resigned as UML vice-chair after being elected the country’s President in 2015.

Even before the Gen Z movement, questions were raised about Oli’s leadership, not only outside the party but also within. However, no leader had openly challenged him. As a result, while there was some doubt about Oli’s reelection, the path ahead had seemed relatively smooth.

Now, a section of UML leaders is uniting under Senior Vice-chair Pokhrel to counter Oli.

Second-rung UML leaders chose Pokhrel as a candidate for the party chair after Oli and his faction denied former President Bhandari party membership, despite her announcement to return to the party.

According to party insiders, Bhandari is backing Pokhrel to replace Oli. Party leaders who are considering forming an alternative panel to challenge Oli said that next week, Pokhrel is preparing to formally announce his candidacy for party chair with Bhandari by his side.

When Bhandari announced in June her plan to rejoin party politics, several UML leaders including Pokhrel had supported her. They aimed to use her return to challenge Oli’s leadership. However, the party’s central committee later decided that, on moral grounds, a former President could not be granted party membership, effectively denying Bhandari any role in the party.