Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist) (1998)

Communism in Nepal Leaders Pushpa Lal Shrestha Mohan Bikram Singh Manmohan Adhikari Keshar Jung Rayamajhi Chandra Prakash Mainali Sahana Pradhan Madan Kumar Bhandari Madan Kumar Bhandari Madhav Kumar Nepal Prachanda Baburam Bhattarai Current groups CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) UCPN (Maoist) CPN-Maoist CPN (United Marxist) CPN (Marxist–Leninist) CPN (Marxist) CPN (United) CPN (Unified) Nepal Workers Peasants Party Defunct groups Communist Party of Nepal Nepal Communist League CPN (Burma) CPN (Pushpa Lal) CPN (4th Convention) CPN (Marxist–Leninist) CPN (Masal) CPN (Mashal) CPN (Manmohan) CPN (Marxist) (1st) CPN (Marxist) (2nd) CPN (Democratic) CPN (Unity Centre) CPN (MLM) CPN (Samyabadi) CPN (MLM Centre) CPN (United) CPN (Unity Centre–Masal) Related articles Communism History of Nepal Nepalese Civil War Politics of Nepal Political parties in Nepal Elections in Nepal Communism Portal

Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist), a splinter group from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) formed on March 5, 1998. Sahana Pradhan was the chair of the party and Bam Dev Gautam the general secretary.^[1] Within the CPN(UML) a power struggle had taken place after the death of Madan Bhandari. Gautam and Pradhan advocated a tactical alliance with the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, which the CPN(UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal opposed.^[2] Moreover, CPN(ML) opposed the Mahakali river treaty with India. CPN(ML) described the split in the following wordings in the manifesto:

"CPN-ML was born as a result of revolt by revolutionary and patriotic force against national capitalist, and liquidationist policies and programmes of the CPN-UML. This was not the revolt for the sake of revolt; it was the revolt to restructure and re-organise the communist movement based on the principles of revolutionary Marxism."^[3]

CPN(ML) won over the majority of the party membership in the Kathmandu Valley and almost half of the parliamentary group of CPN(UML). From September to December that year, CPN(ML) took part in the government led by G.P. Koirala.

In the 1999 parliamentary elections CPN(ML) got 6.4% of the votes nationwide, but failed to win a single seat. The division of the communists directly contributed to the electoral victory of the Nepali Congress (which had less votes than CPN(ML) and CPN(UML) combined).

In January 2002 CPN(ML) formed a three-member team to negotiate re-unification with CPN(UML). The team was headed by R.K. Mainali.^[4] On February 15, 2002 CPN(ML) reunified with CPN(UML). But C.P. Mainali, an important party leader, refused to go along and reconstituted his own CPN(ML).^[5]

References

1. "CPN-ML central committee meets". Nepalnews.com. Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd. 10 October 2001. Archived from the original on 2 November 2004. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
2. Parajulee, Ramjee P.. The Democratic Transition in Nepal. Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. p. 289
3. "Main Event of the Year : Formation and Dissolution of Political Parties in Nepal". Human Rights Internet. Archived from the original on 20 February 2005. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
4. "ML politburo meets to discuss unity with UML". Nepalnews.com. Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd. 29 January 2002. Archived from the original on 10 February 2005. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
5. "UML, ML to merge Friday". Nepalnews.com. Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd. 13 February 2002. Archived from the original on 13 March 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2012.