The age-old tendency of Nepali communist parties to split and merge appears set to continue.

The number of times Nepal’s communist parties were engaged in unification, division, reunification and resplit over the past seven decades is mind boggling.

The first Communist Party of Nepal, established in 1949 to oppose the Rana regime, fragmented over the years, leading to an ever-increasing number of communist parties. The latest trigger for such ructions in Nepali communist parties is the recent Gen Z uprising.

As bad governance by the old political parties reached new heights, the younger generation took to the streets, ultimately bringing down a powerful coalition government of two largest political parties.

In the protest’s aftermath, in just four years of its establishment, the CPN (Unified Socialist) is on the brink of a split.

In August 2021, fighting against what they call the autocracy of CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli, a faction led by Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal split the largest communist party to form the Unified Socialist. Since its inception, the party has faced questions over its relevance and the justification for its split from the UML.

Now the new party is on the verge of division as well, with senior leader Khanal standing against party chair Nepal’s push for unification with the Maoist Centre.

The party’s Central Committee meeting on Friday endorsed the party unification proposal with an overwhelming majority, according to Jagannath Khatiwada, a vice-chair of the party.

However, the party has reached a point of division as a group of leaders including Khanal, General Secretary Ghanashyam Bhusal, Ram Kumari Jhakri, Ghanendra Basnet, Vijay Paudel, Jeevan Ram Shrestha, Laxman Lamsal, Damodar Aryal, Ashok Ghimire, Akil Husain Khan, Hari Parajuli, and Ashesh Ghimire, among others, stood against the unification.

But vice-chair Khatiwada, who is close to party chair Nepal, said the situation should not be termed a split. He claimed a party only splits when a faction forms a different party. This is not going to happen with the Unified Socialist, he said.

An overwhelming majority of party members will be joining the Maoist Centre whereas the disgruntled group will remain in the same party, Khatiwada said.

“Although some of our party members don’t want to join the unification process, various other communist parties do. Therefore, it would not be appropriate to describe this as a continuation of the trend of communist party splitting.”

Meanwhile, a Secretariat meeting of the Maoist Centre on Saturday discussed the future course of the unified party after merging with the Unified Socialist and other left groups.

The meeting of the Maoist Centre agreed to draft a statute and a brief manifesto of the unified party. The party had earlier scrapped all positions of office bearers and formed a general convention organising committee in the aftermath of the Gen Z uprising. The meeting appointed Dahal as the coordinator of the organising committee.

According to party leader Haribol Gajurel, they have agreed to appoint Unified Socialist Party chair Nepal as co-coordinator of the convention organising committee after the party unity. Likewise, other office bearers of the Unified Socialist will also be adjusted accordingly.

“There were discussions on the formation of a Central Secretariat for the unified party in order to accommodate leaders from other parties,” Gajurel said.

The unified party is likely to be named the Nepal Communist Party (Socialist). But other names are also being discussed, according to Unified Socialist leader Rajendra Prasad Pandey. The two parties have scheduled a joint meeting on Tuesday.

The unified party is likely to hold its general convention six months after unification. Before that, a Secretariat will be formed, and the role of Unified Socialist chairperson Nepal will be on an equal footing with that of Maoist Centre leader Dahal, Pandey asserted.

In addition to the Maoist Centre and the Unified Socialist, Tuesday’s joint gathering will also include the Nepal Socialist Party led by Mahindra Raya Yadav, which was formed following a split from the party led by Baburam Bhattarai, Maoist Centre spokesman Agni Sapkota said after the secretariat meeting on Saturday.

Other fringe communist groups could also participate in the unification process. They include a group led by former minister Prem Bahadur Singh, the CPN (Socialist) led by Raju Karki, the Jana Samajwadi Party led by Subas Kafle, and the faction led by Chiran C, which split from Netra Bikram Chand’s party.

“Discussions are underway to designate Dahal as the coordinator and Nepal as the co-coordinator of the unified party,” Sapkota said.

Maoist Centre leader Janardan Sharma, however, has opposed the party unity and urged the leaders to delay the move.

At a time the Nepal faction of Unified Socialist is inching closer to unify the party with the Maoist Centre, a faction led by Khanal organised a separate meeting in Kathmandu on Saturday.

The Khanal faction mainly focused on three ideas during the meeting, according to a party leader in attendance.

“A faction is for rejoining the UML, the other group is for unification with Maoist Centre. There is another line that we should form a new political party,” a leader of the Khanal faction said on the condition of anonymity.

A large section of leaders who are against joining the Maoist Centre are also against making former prime minister Khanal chief of the new party.

“We are not against unity, but it should materialise under a new leadership. This implies that it is not possible to move forward by handing over executive responsibility to Khanal as well,” the leader said.

In a latest central committee meeting of the Unified Socialist, General Secretary Bhusal had said that they would consider joining the Maoist Centre if the party chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Nepal are ready to quit party leadership.

“If the top leaders of both the parties guarantee such a change, we can also consider unification between the two parties,” a party leader quoted Bhusal.

Meanwhile, the dissident faction of the Unified Socialist has entrusted Bhusal with the responsibility of holding talks for party reorganisation and unification. A total of 87 leaders participated in the meeting of this faction on Saturday.