Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalnath Khanal Meet to Ease Tensions in CPN (Unified Socialist)

On Saturday morning, Madhav Kumar Nepal, chairman of the CPN (Unified Socialist), met with senior leader Jhalnath Khanal at their party’s office in Aloknagar, Kathmandu. They talked for about an hour and fifteen minutes.

Rajendra Pandey, the party’s senior vice-chairman, said the meeting started around 8:30 a.m. and ended by 9:45 a.m. Since Nepal had to leave early for a trip to Janakpur, the meeting ended sooner than planned. But even with that, they were able to start a conversation.

Pandey said both leaders agreed not to talk badly about each other in public anymore. “The meeting wasn’t very long, but it was a good start for more talks to come,” he said. Some other party leaders helped set up the meeting.

“We arranged this because the recent back-and-forth was making things tense inside the party,” Pandey explained. Promesh Hamal and Ghanshyam Bhusal also helped organize it.

Later that day, Khanal met with another senior leader, Bamdev Gautam, at Khanal’s home in Dallu. They talked for nearly six hours. Gautam said their discussion was about bringing the party together and making the communist movement stronger.

“We’ve been friends for a long time but hadn’t had a deep talk in a while,” Gautam said. “It was more personal than political, and nothing was meant for public sharing.” People in the party see these talks as a positive step toward calming tensions and bringing everyone closer.