Not long ago, public events attended by Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli featured placards that read: “I Love You, KP Ba [father figure].” But, times have changed.

At the final match of the KP Oli Cup football, organised by an affiliate organisation of the CPN-UML, at Dasharath Stadium in the first week of March, slogans rang out against him, right in his presence. It was a telling moment.

In recent months, public anger against the prime minister appears to be growing, which observers see as signs of his waning popularity. As Oli’s influence appears to be waning, former President Bidya Devi Bhandari is making her presence felt through frequent district visits and meetings with local politicians. Bhandari has given ample hints that she plans to return to active politics, but she has yet to make it official.

After spending two weeks touring Gandaki and Koshi provinces a few months ago, Bhandari is now planning to visit Lumbini, Sudurpaschim, and Karnali. A UML leader close to Bhandari claimed that the provincial tour is likely to begin soon, and some leaders have been assigned to make preparations.

“She should have already been on the tour, but it was postponed due to the passing of her close aide’s mother. It will happen soon,” said a leader close to the former President.

Lila Giri, former provincial assembly leader of UML in Lumbini province, told the Post that Bhandari is likely to visit Lumbini Province on March 27 to attend a religious event.

“However, I am unaware of her travel plans for Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces,” he added.

Giri, a close associate of UML Vice-chair Bishnu Paudel, was denied the post of chief minister of Lumbini last July, which instead went to Chet Narayan Acharya, a close associate of party general secretary Shankar Pokharel.

During a provincial convention, Giri supported Radha Krishna Kandel for the provincial head of the party, while Hari Risal lost the position. Back then, Bhandari backed Vice-chair Paudel’s candidate, while Oli supported Pokharel’s.

Padma Aryal, UML’s Lumbini province in-charge, also confirmed Bhandari’s Lumbini visit to attend a religious event on March 28. However, Aryal could not confirm if Bhandari plans to visit Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces.

However, standing committee member Karna Bahadur Thapa, a leader from Sudurpaschim, said Bhandari is scheduled to visit some far-western districts. “The visit has been deferred due to some personal reasons,” Thapa told the Post.

Bhandari, who is working to create an environment for her return to the UML, is expected to meet party leaders in all three provinces, as she did during her visits to Gandaki and Koshi.

After Bhandari became active in politics again, dissatisfied UML leaders and critics of the current leadership have gravitated towards her.

In the recently concluded 10th UML Morang district convention, Ajambar Rai defeated Rajkumar Ojha, the establishment-backed candidate, to become the district chairperson.

The entire panel from the dissident faction secured victory in the convention held in Biratnagar. In January, before the district convention, Bhandari was on a tour of Koshi Province. Some UML leaders believe Bhandari’s tour of the Koshi Province ahead of the convention contributed to the dissident faction’s success.

But UML Secretary Aryal dismissed this notion. “It is wrong to say that the district convention was influenced simply because former President Bhandari went to the province,” Aryal said.

Last December, Bhandari attended the first Phewa Dialogue in Pokhara, which was organised jointly by the Tribhuvan University and the Sichuan University of China, as the chief guest.

After the event, she toured various places in Kaski for almost a week and met UML leaders as well as Gandaki’s former chief minister Khagaraj Adhikari, UML’s Gandaki in-charge Kiran Gurung, plus province committee chairman Nabaraj Sharma.

While Bhandari was on a tour of Koshi province in January, she publicly praised former Vice-president Nanda Bahadur Pun, who had just rejoined the CPN (Maoist Centre). Pun, who served as the country's vice president for two terms when Bhandari was President from 2015 to 2023, had officially participated in the Maoist Centre’s central committee meeting in January.

“He is experienced and still in working age. We worked together for seven years, and I am happy that he has rejoined politics. I extend my best wishes to him,” Bhandari said at a press conference in January while touring Koshi province.

But she maintained that she had yet to make a decision on rejoining politics. “But if I rejoin active politics, I would return to the UML, because the party nurtured me," former President Bhandari stated.

Yet she seems determined to continue her involvement in national politics.

“I am where I am today because of active participation in national politics,” Bhandari said. “Naturally, I think about what is best for Nepal.”

Unhappy with Oli’s activities or feeling sidelined by the party chief, some leaders like Gokul Baskota and Karna Thapa, who were among party chair Oli’s close aides, are now distancing themselves from him and reportedly lobbying for Bhandari’s return to UML leadership.

Baskota’s dissatisfaction became evident a few months ago when he formed a parallel committee of the party’s student wing in his home district, Kavrepalanchok, challenging the party establishment.

“Former President Bhandari should return to UML politics. This is the need of the time,” Karna Thapa said.