UML Secretariat Meeting to Review Protests, Address Growing Discontent with Oli’s Leadership

The CPN-UML Secretariat is meeting this afternoon at 1 p.m. at party chair KP Sharma Oli’s residence in Gwarko, Bhaktapur. According to party publicity Chief Rajendra Gautam, the session will conduct a serious review of the September 8–9 protests.

Leaders say the meeting will also focus on growing dissatisfaction within the party over Oli’s leadership, with several Secretariat members openly demanding his resignation. Oli, who resigned as prime minister earlier and spent weeks inside a Nepal Army barracks, only reappeared in public on September 18.

During his time in the barracks, senior vice chair Ishwar Pokharel and other leaders had called for party discussions, but Oli refused to allow meetings in his absence. Even after shifting to his residence in Gwarko, he continued to resist convening formal sessions, instead summoning leaders and cadres privately and claiming that a major conspiracy was being waged against him.

However, frustrations have mounted. Sources say a majority of Secretariat members, including Yogesh Bhattarai, Surendra Pandey, Yuvaraj Gyawali, and Gokarna Bista, have urged Oli to “step down.” Senior vice chair Pokharel is also reportedly preparing to increase pressure, saying “if not now, then when?”

Other influential figures such as vice chairs Bishnu Paudel and Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ are also said to believe the party cannot move forward under Oli’s leadership. Today’s meeting is expected to be a decisive moment for the party’s future direction.