Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said on Wednesday that preparations are underway to form a ‘broad socialist front’ in order to complete the socialist revolution in the country. A concept paper for the formation of the socialist front is ready and soon an announcement will be made of the front bringing some leftist and communist parties together, he added.

“Through the socialist front, we will take an initiative for the revival of the Nepal Communist Party,” Dahal said at a function in Dang. Prime Minister Dahal, who chairs the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), has been harping on this after the dissolution of the NCP in March, 2021.

The CPN-UML and the Maoist Centre had united to form the NCP in June, 2018 and registered the party at the Election Commission. In March, 2021, a division bench of Justices Kumar Regmi and Bom Kumar Shrestha passed its judgement in favour of Rishiram Kattel who had challenged the Commission’s decision to award the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) name, NCP within brackets, to KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, saying that “Nepal Communist Party” was already registered under his name back in 2013.

The NCP was considered the strongest ever communist party in Nepal’s history and had an almost two-third majority in Parliament. With the verdict of the Supreme Court, the two communist parties—UML and Maoist Centre—were reborn.

“The socialist revolution is not easy and straightforward. It will take its own unique and natural course,” the prime minister said on Wednesday.

“In politics based on ideology, there must be wider political discourse. And we will take leadership for that. The objective behind forming the NCP was to create the basis for socialism in the country.”

But this time, according to some Maoist Center leaders, the UML will not be part of the socialist front. “I don’t think the UML will join,” Dev Gurung, general secretary of the Maoist Centre, said. “The concept being discussed excludes the UML but who knows the future? Miracles can happen in Nepali politics.”

Some nominally leftist forces like the Maoist party, the CPN (Unified Socialist), the Janata Samajbadi Party, the Nepal Samajbadi Party led by Baburam Bhattarai, the Communist Party of Nepal led by Netra Bikram Chand look keen on forming the front. On Saturday, Unified Socialist chair Madhav Kumar Nepal urged UML chair Oli and Maoist chief Dahal to take the lead to revive the NCP.

“Our party is not going to merge with any party, any move would be to revive the NCP,” Nepal said at a function on Saturday. Some UML leaders see that proposal as Madhav Nepal’s bid to stem the exodus of his party workers. “A lot of leaders and cadres of the Unified Socialist are returning to the UML. This is Madhavji’s survival strategy,” said a senior UML leader. Other UML leaders said there was no possibility of unity with Dahal who betrayed their party several times.

“No leaders have come to us seeking to revive the unity among the communist parties,” UML Vice-chairman Subas Nembang said. “The revival of the NCP does not happen automatically, there should be talks and efforts but that is not happening now.”

The Maoist party and the political forces led by Madhav Nepal, Bhattarai, Biplab [Chand], Bamdev Gautam and Upendra Yadav will be in the socialist front whose announcement will be made soon, said Dahal. “There are some leaders inside the UML who are in favour of a socialist front. If their leadership is changed, those leaders will join with us.”