The CPN (Unified Socialist) that joined the five-party ruling alliance as a junior partner, is battling internal conflicts as well as tensions with the alliance partners.

The party was not initially included when the new ruling coalition was formed on March 4.

The party was admitted into the fold only a few days after the big parties in the coalition felt the necessity of involving the fringe party for the formation of provincial governments. Realising their importance, the leaders of the Unified Socialist stepped up bargaining, occasionally causing irritation among the major parties.

Some Unified Socialist leaders including party chair Madhav Kumar Nepal publicly expressed dissatisfaction, alleging that the big parties in the coalition were rendering his party leaders roleless in provincial Cabinets. Unified Socialist even threatened to join hands with rival parties to forge alliances in provinces.

Unified Socialist chair Nepal remains discontented, especially due to his strained relations with KP Sharma Oli, chair of the largest party in the ruling coalition, CPN-UML. Besides this, he had reportedly been assured a prime ministerial term in the previous alliance, which he saw slip away with the formation of the new coalition.

Nepal had been reportedly promised a turn as prime minister, rotating with Dahal and Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba.

On March 5, the day after the formation of the current coalition, Prime Minister Dahal and UML chief Oli visited Nepal’s residence. During the meeting Nepal had reportedly expressed displeasure with Dahal for not consulting him during the formation of the new alliance, but eventually agreed to join the new coalition.

The Unified Socialist joined the federal Cabinet on March 13 leading two ministries. However, the party’s relations with coalition partners remains strained.

As Maoist Centre lawmaker Devendra Paudel told the Post, “Although the Unified Socialist joined the new alliance, they have been creating problems in the formation and operation of governments in some provinces.”

Lumbini Province Chief Minister Jokh Bahadur Mahara was forced to split a ministry and increase the number of ministries to address the Unified Socialist party’s demand for a ministerial berth. Lumbini Province earlier had 10 ministries, but last Wednesday, the chief minister split one ministry. This happened after the Unified Socialist Party, which was not allocated any ministry when Mahara formed the government on April 5, stuck to its demand for a ministry.

The Bagmati Chief Minister Shalikram Jamkattel of the Maoist Centre is also at odds with Unified Socialist leaders over power sharing.

In Sudurpaschim Province, the Unified Socialist secured the chief ministerial post by threatening to forge a rival alliance with the Nepali Congress.

Once a top leader of the CPN-UML, Nepal also served as prime minister in 2010. But amid growing differences with Oli, he parted ways with the UML and launched the Unified Socialist in 2021. But the party failed to attain national party status in the 2022 general elections.

Unified Socialist vice-chair Rajendra Pandey and its lawmaker Metmani Chaudhary are among the most vocal critics of the current coalition. Pandey has at times engaged in arguments with Prime Minister Dahal during parliament meetings.

Chaudhary accuses Dahal of being the root cause of instability in the country.

“Whenever time comes to honour past agreements, Dahal changes his mind; this has always been his political nature,” Chaudhary told the Post. “We never expected Dahal to implement the agreement to rotate the prime ministership with our party chair.”

He also admitted that his party might change the current coalition. “We trusted Dahal, but his unstable nature might even endanger the country’s political system. We are considering changing the political equation to stop this from happening.”

On April 17, Congress chief Deuba and Unified Socialist chair Nepal met at the residence of a Congress leader in Kathmandu as rival alliances vied for majority support to form a government in Sudurpaschim.

Despite being in the ruling coalition, the Unified Socialist joined hands with Congress-led alliance in the province, rendering the UML-Maoist coalition in minority. Later, Nepal persuaded Dahal and Oli to support Dirgha Sodari of Unified Socialist as chief minister in Sudurpaschim.

When Nepal held meetings with Deuba in the run-up to the formation of the Sudurpaschim government, Prime Minister Dahal consulted another Unified Socialist leader and former prime minister Jhalanath Khanal. Khanal is thought to have helped keep the Unified Socialist in the present coalition. While Nepal is a reluctant member of the current coalition, Khanal favours good relations with the UML-Maoist alliance.

Former Prime Minister Khanal, however, denies any factional rifts within his party. He also ruled out the possibility of collaborating with the Congress. “Some leaders may personally want an alliance with the Congress, but our party’s official stance is to maintain the current coalition,” he told the Post.

Vice-chair Pandey, meanwhile, accuses Dahal of being politically untrustworthy. “I don’t think our party can work with the current alliance for long,” he told the Post.

On the other hand, the Congress is trying to sow divisions within the ruling coalition.

During their April 17 meeting, Deuba reportedly promised Nepal premiership should he quit the UML-Maoist alliance. Under the current setup of Parliament, one needs to secure the backing of 138 lawmakers to be elected as prime minister. The Congress (88) and Unified Socialist (10) command a total of 98 seats in the House of Representatives.

The Dahal government has the support of 157 MPs in Parliament as per the floor test of March 13. Even if the 10 lawmakers of the Unified Socialist withdraw their support, the government still maintains a parliamentary majority. However, the Unified Socialist leaders claimed that the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), which has 12 members in the House, will also withdraw its support to Dahal should a new coalition emerge. In such a scenario the Dahal government would fall into minority.

But JSP lawmaker Pradip Yadav says they have no plans to switch coalitions. “We rather want to strengthen the ruling coalition,” Yadav told the Post.

However, Chaudhary of the Unified Socialist says that they expect support from various parties if a new coalition is formed. These parties include Rastriya Prajatantra Party (14 seats), Janata Samajwadi Party (12), Janamat Party (6) Nagarik Unmukti Party (3 seats, excluding Ranjita Shrestha), Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (4), Aam Janata Party (1), Rastriya Janamorcha (1) and independent lawmaker Amresh Kumar Singh, according to Chaudhary. This will total 140 lawmakers.

Chaudhary claimed that his party’s senior leader Khanal will also support the new alliance once it gets a shape.

Congress leader and former foreign minister Narayan Khadka, however, said that it would be too early to speak of a new alliance. He, however, acknowledged ongoing talks among opposition parties and dissidents within the ruling coalition.

“It is natural to discuss options with other parties, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we are considering forming an alternative alliance immediately,” Khadka told the Post.