JANAKPUR: CPN-UML Secretary Raghubir Mahaseth has asserted that if former President Bidya Devi Bhandari rises to become the chairperson of the UML, it will happen with the full support and proposal of current party chairman KP Sharma Oli.

Speaking to journalists in Janakpurdham on Sunday morning, Mahaseth, considered close to Oli, dismissed speculation of a rift between Oli and Bhandari.

He said rumors of internal conflict and factionalism in the party were entirely baseless.

“There’s talk in the media every day that Chairman KP Sharma Oli and former President Bidya Bhandari are at odds, and that the party is splitting into camps. That is completely untrue,” Mahaseth said. “Even if Bidya Bhandari becomes the UML chair, it will only be with the backing of Oli.”

Bidya Bhandari, the widow of the late UML General Secretary Madan Bhandari, served two terms as President of Nepal from 2015 to 2023.

Before her presidency, she was UML vice-chair. She officially re-entered party politics on June 28 at a memorial event in Kathmandu marking the birth anniversary of her husband, who died in a 1994 car crash in Dashdhunga, Chitwan.