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Communist Parties Merge In Nepal- (CPN) Unified Socialist And Unity National Campaign

Former Nepali Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal (right) and former Home Minister Bamdev Gautam (left) hold a conversation during a unification announcement event in Kathmandu, Nepal, on July 18, 2025. The CPN-Unified Socialist, led by Madhav Kumar Nepal, and the CPN Unity National Campaign, led by Bamdev Gautam, announce their merger amid a ceremony at City Hall in the capital, Kathmandu. With the merger, Bamdev Gautam, the campaign coordinator, formally joins the CPN-Unified Socialist, which forms after a split with the CPN-Unified Marxist Leninist led by KP Sharma Oli following an intra-party rift. As per the merger agreement, Gautam, also a former Home Minister, receives the third most senior position in the Unified Socialist after party chair Madhav Kumar Nepal and senior leader Jhalanath Khanal. The Unified Socialist and the group led by Gautam split from the CPN-UML in 2021 and have been operating separately since. Over the past four years, both sides engage in formal and informal negotiations towards party reunification. In 2021, after breaking off from the CPN-UML, both former Prime Ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal form the CPN (Unified Socialist), while Gautam chooses not to join the new party. Gautam at the time launches his own CPN Unity National Campaign, announcing he would work to bring all the communist forces under a single umbrella by not joining any side, the CPN-UML, US, or the Maoist Center. Though multiple rounds of talks are initiated, an agreement does not work out. (Photo by Subaas Shrestha/NurPhoto)

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