There has been more conflict than unity between UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Nepali Communist Party Coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal. There has been a constant 'war of words' between the two leaders. These two leaders, who did not get along even when they were in the same party and government, are currently seeing each other as 'political enemies'.

Dahal has been saying that the Gen-G movement was caused by the arrogance of the then Prime Minister Oli and that he should take responsibility for it. Oli has been accusing Dahal of being in power, saying that he will ‘agree with anyone for power’ and that there is political instability in the country. 

Oli had said that Dahal had deployed former Maoist ‘raidmen’ to set fire to and vandalize government structures and private homes on Bhadra 24, the next day of the Gen-G movement.

A series of accusations has been going on between these two leaders. On Wednesday, Oli called the newly formed Nepali Communist Party an ‘old age home’. He went further and claimed that leaders with UML backgrounds surrounded Dahal and would one day snatch his leadership.

‘The CPN-UML is not a party in crisis like Prachanda. When he could not work anywhere, he went from where to where, from where to where. The party did not work, nothing happened, just like Baburam Bhattarai used to distribute rice in Tundikhel, this is not the kind of party that would create a place to distribute rice in the same way,' Oli said while addressing local people's representatives in the valley on Wednesday, 'This is a party that fights for the country, this is not an old age home. Therefore, in the name of unity, people who do not work, people full of arrogance are piled up. Now Prachanda sees it, now he sees it. In one way, I am very happy.'

He said that after Dahal in the NCP, his former friends in the ranking have moved forward on the path to finishing the Maoists. 'Second number is my friend, third number is my friend, fourth number is my friend, sixth number is my friend. Now Prachanda sees what my friends are like. My friends have surrounded Prachanda. They have dissolved the Maoist party. They have done the work. They have finished the Maoist party,' he said,   'Now the Prachandas are not from the Maoist party. Our friends have done it and are still doing it. Best wishes, may our friends who have gone be successful and good. Not only second, third, but first, second. My best wishes. I will also give a little support.'

Dahal had accused Oli of being a leader who talks nonsense when he inducted former UML vice-chairman Bhim Rawal into the NCP on Kartik 26. Dahal says that 12 political parties have been merged into the Nepali Communist Party. 'We have 12 groups in one place,' he had said, 'KP talks nonsense, everyone leaves UML and comes here.'

Dahal has been saying that there will be no unity as long as Oli is under the leadership of UML. 'KP will not have unity with UML as long as Oli is under its leadership. But if Oli is not in its leadership, the door to unity can open,' he had told cadres in Dhading on Asoj 29.

After the Congress-UML alliance was formed in Asad 2081, Dahal had acted aggressively after Oli became the Prime Minister. Before that, Dahal had become the Prime Minister with the support of UML. The main opposition party at that time, the Maoist Center, was fighting against Prime Minister Oli of the Congress-UML coalition government in the parliament and on the streets. Dahal not only accused the Oli government of being a 'middleman', but also claimed that his government had collapsed because he had worked against corruption.

Oli-Dahal's past relationship

KP Oli was a bitter critic of the Maoist armed war. He did not stop criticizing the Maoists after they joined the peace process. Despite being the first party in the Constituent Assembly in 2064, he remained opposed to the Maoist issues. He had categorically rejected the federalism model and politics put forward by the Maoists during the constitution-making process. The Maoists had also considered Oli as their main opposition leader.

Even before the Gen-G movement, the then Prime Minister Oli and the leader of the main opposition party, Dahal, were face to face in the parliament and on the streets. Dahal broke his alliance with the Congress and resumed cooperation with UML Chairman Oli in 2080 Falgun. But that alliance did not last even five months. That cooperation broke down after the alliance between the Congress and UML was formed in Asad 2081. Both leaders took to the streets, parliament, and rallies against each other. That process continues even now.

UML Chairman KP Oli and the then Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal formed an alliance in the 2074 election due to their own interests. After winning a large majority in the election, they unified the parties on 3 Jestha 2075. The power struggle between the two leaders in the CPN (Maoist) that was formed by the unity between the UML and the Maoists culminated in a power struggle. Then, in 2077 Falgun, Dahal broke off relations with UML Oli Dahal.

Looking back, Dahal had broken up after failing to secure a majority for the post of Prime Minister 17 times and supported the then UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal in 2067.

In 2067 Magh, he abandoned the race for the post of Prime Minister in Parliament and made the then UML Chairman Khanal the Prime Minister. At that time, he claimed that he formed the government with his own strength. Oli did not like the fact that Khana was made the Prime Minister. He was an opponent of that government.

The Maoists, who were outside the then Congress President Sushil Koirala government, made UML Chairman Oli the Prime Minister in 2072 Asoj. That was when the collaboration between Oli and Dahal began. As the power struggle intensified, Dahal toppled the Oli government in Jestha 2073 after a disagreement with Oli. After that, Dahal started collaborating with the Congress. In July 2073, Dahal himself became Prime Minister for the second time by collaborating with the Congress. After resigning on 10 Jestha 2074 to pave the way for Deuba to become Prime Minister.

In November 2074, he formed an electoral alliance with the UML on the eve of the general election, claiming leftist unity. In Jestha 2075, the parties merged and formed the NCP. Less than three years later, the power struggle with Oli intensified. In Falgun 2077, after the Supreme Court ruled on a writ petition regarding the dispute related to the NCP and separated the UML-Maoists, Oli and Dahal went their separate ways.