Former Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari. file. , Photo Credit: PTI
Former Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari announced on Saturday (June 28, 2025) that she has renovated active politics by renewing her membership of the ruling CPN-UML after leaving the party to hold the country’s top constitutional post.
62-year-old Ms. Bhandari announced a program organized by the Madan Bhandari Foundation in Kathmandu, so that she could mark the 74th birth anniversary of her late husband and the Nepal-one Communist Party of Communist Party of Communist Party Marxist Leninist (CPN-Kumar), Madan Bhandari.
Ms. Bhandari said at the ceremony, “I have renewed my membership of CPN-UML with the aim of giving continuity to the party’s political journey.”
Mr. Oli is also the first president of CPN-Kumar.
“Now, I am again associated with CPN-Kumar as a member of this family, and I am proud of it,” said Ms. Bhandari.
The return of the former President in active politics comes amid increasing speculation about his future role within CPN-UML. In the last few months, she is interacting with party leaders and cadres across the country, fueling rumors that she could play a big role in the party’s leadership.
Political experts said that Ms. Bhandari’s decision to re-add CPN-UML could pose a threat to Mr. Oli, enjoying “a kind of monopoly” at the ruling party.
Quoting the inner sources of the party, Kathmandu Post The newspaper said that Ms. Bhandari can challenge Mr. Oli at the next general conference of CPN-UML. Mr. Oli, who has led the party since 2014, is said to have been achieving a third term as the chief.
Speaking in the same incident, Prime Minister Oli said that CPN-UML was united and warned against efforts to divide it.
Without someone’s name, he said, “Don’t dream of dividing UML.”
Mr. Oli also urged the party members to focus on the next general elections, which are scheduled to be held in 2027-28.
Connecting the political importance of her move, Ms. Bhandari recently traveled to China for a 10 -day visit from 24 May, during which she held meetings with high ranked officials.
The visit attracted attention to Nepal, with observers interpreted it as an attempt to promote their political dominance.
Ms. Bhandari’s re -entry into party politics has created a debate in Nepal’s political circles.
It is not common for the former President to return to party politics, although there may be no legal ban, senior journalist and political analyst Dhurwa Hari Adikari said.
He said that this moral question can raise, even if it is making a personal decision, he said.
Ms. Bhandari served as the chairman of Nepal for two consecutive terms between 2015 and 2023. In October 2015, after being elected to a formal post in October 2015, she abandoned her party membership, which became the first woman head of the country.
Before her height for the presidency, Ms. Bhandari was a senior CPN-UML leader and served as the vice-president of the party. She was also the Defense Minister in Madhav Kumar Nepal -led government in 2009.
Ms. Bhandari is a widow of Madan Bhandari, a popular Marxist leader who died in a controversial jeep accident in 1993. The incident was widely seen as a suspect, and the timely investigation failed to establish the cause of the accident.
Published – June 29, 2025 07:50 AM IST