The mother Maoist outfit, which emerged as the largest party in the 2008 Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, suffered multiple splits thereafter. Towering Maoist leaders such as Baburam Bhattarai, Mohan Baidya and Netra Bikram Chand left the mothership but then failed to make a headway in national politics. Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal, however, continued to lead the mainstream Maoist party that he turned into a moderate political force. Now he plans on bringing back former Maoist leaders to cement his hold on the party. In the past seven years, Bhattarai, the chief ideologue of the 10-year Maoist war, experimented with socialist parties of various kinds but failed each time. Now he wants to make amends with Dahal. Many Maoist leaders have now realized that the split was a blunder. Bhattarai for one is sure to contest elections under the Maoist symbol.

Leaders close to Dahal are also reaching out to other Maoist leaders, asking them to return. Maoist cadres who were affiliated with different splinter groups have already rejoined.

“I am working to bring all communist forces including Maoist splinter groups together. This will take a more concrete shape after the elections,” Dahal said on August 15 after meeting Bhattarai. Except Dahal and Bhattarai, no other senior Maoist leader has won direct elections. Shyam Shrestha, a political analyst, sees high chances of the likes of Dahal, Bhattarai, and Chand coming together as they do not have major ideological differences and each has a pragmatic approach to national politics. “They did not part ways on ideological grounds but due to clash of egos and differences over resource-allocation. They can easily reunite,” he says.