Since the insurgency days, the Maoists have always been high on conspiracy theories, particularly when it comes to the United States, the superpower they once called an ‘imperialist’ force.

The latest instance of this is Chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal raising the possibility of the current government pushing for Nepal to join the State Partnership Programme (SPP) proposed by the US government.

Based on a media report that no other Maoist leader has seen, Dahal expressed his worry that Prime Minister Oli, who had earlier shown tentative support for the controversial US programme, might now give it his stamp of approval.

Speaking at a press conference in Hetauda on Sunday, the three-time prime minister said, “There is something more concerning than the Millennium Challenge Compact [MCC]. It is called the SPP. It has been reported in the US media that the current prime minister has already given theoretical consent to the SPP, and the US government has also made it official. This is a matter of serious concern.”

“This government can compromise on national interest to hold on to power,” Dahal further accused. “Theoretical consent is a serious matter in itself. Now, they could soon reach an agreement.”

This is the second time Dahal has expressed concern over the Oli government’s possible endorsement of the SPP. Last month too, while addressing a rally organised by his party in Kathmandu on October 26, Dahal had suggested that the Oli government could move forward with the SPP, which was earlier rejected by the Sher Bahadur Deuba government in 2022 when Dahal’s party was a coalition partner.

In addition to Dahal, senior vice chair of the Maoist Centre, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, addressing the same rally, had also raised concerns that the Oli government might have already given its nod to the SPP.

When the Post asked Shrestha after the rally about the SPP, he said that although they had no concrete evidence, there were enough clues to worry.

“I have heard that American media is reporting about the agreement between the two countries regarding the SPP, but I don’t have any concrete evidence to provide,” Shrestha, who served as foreign minister in the immediate past government, told the Post.

When Maoist Centre spokesperson Agni Sapkota, the party’s vice chair, was asked about the claims regarding the SPP made by the two leaders of his party, Sapkota told the Post, “I have heard news about Nepal joining the SPP in American media; however, I also need to figure out on what basis the party's leadership is making such a claim.”

The Post could get no convincing answer when it pressed these Maoist leaders to cite the concerned US media report that had allegedly published the piece on the SPP.

Vijay Kant Karna, a foreign policy expert who had previously served as Nepal’s ambassador to Denmark on the Maoist Centre quota, says there is no chance that the present government will move forward with the SPP, as the previous government had rejected it. However, Karna says there would be no harm even if the government joined the SPP.

“The SPP is all about involving army personnel in disaster management. We have seen how ill-equipped and unprepared our state agencies were during the monsoon havoc in September,” Karna told the Post. “Although the SPP is needed for disaster management in our country, I don’t think the present government would take it forward, unlike what the Maoist Centre leaders say.”

Karna further says that Dahal, the leader of the main opposition party in the House of Representatives, has the right to seek a briefing from the secretary of the ministry concerned. “If the Maoist party has certain information about it, why haven’t they requested a briefing on the issue?”

Officials at the foreign ministry also deny such a possibility. “The previous government already has made it clear that Nepal will not be part of the SPP, so there is no chance of the country being a part of it even now,” an official told the Post. “It is astonishing why the former prime minister has repeatedly claimed such developments.”

Foreign policy experts say there is a competition among Nepali political parties to be close to foreign power centres, which may explain the latest statements by the leaders of the Maoist Centre.

Yubraj Sangraula, a former attorney general and a staunch critic of the MCC Compact, also dismisses the possibility of the SPP gaining momentum. “This could be no more than a political stunt by the Maoist Centre.” Sangurala told the Post.

“Had there been any progress on this, it would have come to light through various means,” Sangurala claimed.

However, one of Dahal’s foreign policy advisers during his time as prime minister argued that the Maoist chief’s statement on the SPP can be understood in two contexts.

“First, Nepal had requested the US to include it in the SPP in 2015 when Oli was prime minister. Second, Foreign Minister Arzu Rana has been extensively engaging with the Americans,” the former adviser, who tried to defend Dahal’s public statement, told the Post.

However, leaders of the Congress and UML, the coalition partners, dismiss the Maoist claims.

Even though Nepal had been writing to the US about participating in the SPP since 2015, it became a partner country in the SPP only in 2019. After the earthquake in 2015, Nepal had written to the US requesting participation in SPP for disaster management and humanitarian aid.

Nepal wrote another letter in 2017 requesting the same. The US included Nepal as a participant in the SPP in 2019 only after the promulgation of the Indo-Pacific Strategy put forward by US President Donald Trump. However, there was no memorandum of understanding on it.

When the US decided to include Nepal as an SPP member, Dahal, along with Oli, was co-chair of the Nepal Communist Party. This party was formed from a merger between the UML and Maoist Centre following the 2017 election, and the government was under their leadership.

The issue of SPP first flared up in Nepal when the Commanding General of the US Army Pacific, Charles Flynn, during his Nepal visit in June 2022, urged Nepal to be a part of the SPP during his meeting with then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and the former Army chief, General Prahnu Ram Sharma.

Reportedly, the Deuba government also considered participating.

Nepal’s “participation” in the SPP had become a hotly debated political issue, with political parties engaged in an acrimonious blame game. Prime Minister Deuba was put under pressure by the then main opposition, UML, and his own party, Congress, to terminate Nepal’s partnership with the SPP.

After controversy erupted over Nepal's partnership in the SPP, the US embassy in Kathmandu also issued a press note saying that Nepal can terminate its participation in the SPP if it wishes to.

Later, on June 20, 2022, a Cabinet decision terminated its participation in the SPP.

The SPP is administered by the National Guard Bureau, guided by State Department foreign policy goals, and executed by each US state’s senior military officer to support the Department of Defense policy goals.

“Through SPP, the National Guard conducts military-to-military engagements in support of defense security goals but also leverages whole-of-security relationships and capabilities to facilitate broader interagency and corollary engagements spanning military, government, economic, and social spheres,” the US National Guard website reads.