Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli wanted to complete the merger between CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center) before he left for India on April 6 for two main reasons, those close to him say. One, he wanted to negotiate with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in the capacity of perhaps the strongest prime minister in Nepal’s democratic history. He has not forgotten his rather forgettable first state visit to India as prime minister in February 2016, just after the lifting of the nearly five-month-long border blockade. Although the blockade had been lifted, there was still a lot of mistrust between Oli and Modi, so much so that they could not even agree on a final joint statement. Oli feels the rude behavior of the Indian establishment back then primar­ily owed to his weak position in Nepal, as he led a wobbly coalition with the (unreliable) Maoists and the (opportunis­tic) monarchists. India, in other words, could find ways to remove him from office. “It would have been a different story had he gone to India as the undisputed leader of a political party that alone enjoyed a two-third majority in the national legislature,” says a close Oli aide.

 

Two, Oli wanted to wrap up the formal unification pro­cess with the Maoists before embarking on his second visit to India as he was afraid that his old friends in New Delhi— and despite the blockade still he has legions of them, carefully cultivated over the years—could try to talk him out of the left merger. Many senior government officials and security types in India, and who have at one time or the other worked closely with Oli, still harbor suspicions about the democratic credentials of the Maoists and their leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Pra­chanda’. With the merger locked in, Oli would not be in the awkward position of trying to placate his suspicious Indian friends. In the event, he had to settle for the second-best option: announcement of a date of the merger. Barring a list-minute hiccup, the formal merger will be announced on April 22, the birthday of Vladimir Lenin and the day the Communist Party of Nepal was born in 1949. Among the merger issues that are yet to be resolved: whether to incor­porate ‘people’s war’ in the new party statute, distribution of portfolios at district and provincial levels and the division of seats between the two merging parties in the 299-member central committee.

 

“Yes, there are a few differences between us. But rest assured a formal merger will be announced on April 22,” says senior UML leader Rajan Bhattarai. “Remaining differences can be settled even after the merger.”

 

With the left unity now all but guaranteed, PM Oli will feel he can negotiate from a position of strength during his India trip—and the subsequent one to China.