Former President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Saturday, June 28, formally announced her return to active politics from within the CPN-UML—the party she previously served for years as vice-chair.
Bhandari, who held office as Nepal’s second president across two terms—from October 29, 2015, to March 13, 2018, and again from March 14, 2018, to March 13, 2023—made the announcement during a programme organised by the Madan Bhandari Foundation in Kathmandu.
Born in 1961 in Bhojpur, a hilly district in eastern Nepal, Bhandari entered student politics early in life. However, she rose to national prominence following the untimely death of her husband, Madan Bhandari, in a road accident in 1993. Madan Bhandari, widely regarded as a visionary communist leader, is credited with articulating the political doctrine of People’s Multiparty Democracy (Janatako Bahudaliya Janabad), which remains central to CPN-UML’s ideological framework. Saturday’s event was organised to mark what would have been his 74th birth anniversary.
“Having been relieved of a different kind of political responsibility, I have renewed my party membership with the sincere intention of continuing my political journey within the CPN-UML,” Bhandari told the gathering. “I have now rejoined the CPN-UML family, and I take pride in doing so.”
Although Bhandari insisted she has no personal ambitions, her recent political engagements—including a visit to China—have stirred speculation both within the party and across Nepal’s political landscape. Some see her return as signalling a potential bid for greater influence within the UML, with many speculating whether she could one day succeed—or even challenge—party chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
But, Oli, who was present at the programme, sought to dispel such speculation, asserting that the party remains united and indivisible.
“Madan used to say there is no such thing as fatigue in politics,” Bhandari said, echoing one of her late husband’s most often quoted remarks. “Today, as I stand among you, I recall and reaffirm those very words.”
