KATHMANDU: The Madan Bhandari Foundation, established in 1999 with the objective of perpetuating the ideas of the then General Secretary of CPN (UML), Madan Bhandari, and carrying out works for broader social welfare, has currently become a platform for exercising parallel power within the UML by misusing government resources.

The main source for strengthening the financial condition of the Foundation is government grants. The latest example of this is the Rs 90 million allocated in the budget of the current fiscal year in the name of the Foundation and its subordinate institutions.

In the budget for the fiscal year 2025/26, the then government led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has allocated Rs 30 million for the Foundation through the Ministry of Urban Development. The government has provided this amount to the Foundation for physical infrastructure construction.

Similarly, the government has allocated another Rs 60 million in this year’s budget to the Madan Bhandari Memorial School and Madan Bhandari Memorial College, which are under the Foundation. The Madan Bhandari Foundation is one of the social organizations that rarely receives such a large amount in a single fiscal year. Former President Bidya Devi Bhandari is the patron of the Foundation, which was established in the name of the late UML General Secretary Madan Bhandari, while her eldest daughter, Ushakiran Bhandari, is the chairperson.

Madan Bhandari Memorial School in Jorpati. Photo: Bikram Rai/Nepal News

The Foundation has not received government grants without reason. The influence of the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and former President Bhandari has made it easy for the Foundation to obtain government resources. Indeed, Oli has consistently provided shelter to the Foundation, whether in power or out of power. The allocation of Rs 90 million to the Foundation by the Oli-led government through the current budget is a result of this.

This is not the first time the Foundation has received grants from the government under various names. Previously, the Foundation had already received approximately Rs 230 million in grants from the government. Financial details of the Foundation obtained by Nepal News through the use of the Right to Information Act show that it has received Rs 229 million from the federal, provincial, and local governments in the name of infrastructure construction in the recent period. However, there is no transparency regarding the amount received by the Foundation in this manner.

A copy of the land ownership certificate for the property purchased by the Madan Bhandari Foundation

Foundation officials have admitted to taking grants from various bodies for the construction of the institution’s infrastructure. Mahendra Bahadur Pandey, former chairman of the Foundation, says, “We do not take grants for the operating expenses of the Foundation. However, if anyone supports us in infrastructure construction, we accept it.” Pandey, who is also a former Foreign Minister and Ambassador, is currently a member of the Foundation’s working committee.

The biggest donors to the Foundation so far have been the Government of Nepal and the Kathmandu Metropolitan City. The Metropolitan City is found to have provided a grant of Rs 42.50 million to the Foundation for land purchase. The details show that the Foundation purchased 10 aana of land from Amar Bahadur Pandey, Sapankumari Ghimire, and Sumita Lama Khatiwada at the rate of Rs 4 million per aana on June 27, 2018.

In return, Rs 46.10 million were paid to them. The financial statement for the fiscal year 2023/24 reveals that the Foundation owns land worth Rs 144.50 million and a building worth Rs 58.20 million. Before this, the Foundation is also seen to have purchased 13 aana of land on April 26, 2017.

A copy of the land ownership certificate for the property purchased by the Madan Bhandari Foundation

Even the Auditor General’s 58th report raised questions about the grant given by the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to the Foundation for land purchase in 2018. “The returns received by the general public from providing small plots of land, which are typically used for private house construction, to the Foundation should be analyzed,” the report pointed out.

On the other hand, the Foundation is supported not only by government bodies but also by foreign missions in Nepal. The Indian Embassy provided a grant of Rs 28.8 million to the Foundation. The college building constructed with that budget was handed over by the Embassy to the Foundation on February 27, 2023.

This building was constructed under the Indian Embassy’s ‘High Impact Community Development’ project, which falls under the ‘Nepal-India Development Partnership’. Naveen Srivastava, the Indian Ambassador to Nepal, handed over the building to Mahendra Bahadur Pandey, the Chairman of the College Management Committee.

A copy of the land ownership certificate for the property purchased by the Madan Bhandari Foundation

Before that, in 2008, the Indian Embassy had also constructed a building worth Rs 50 million for the Madan Bhandari Memorial College. At that time, five buildings were constructed through the District Development Committee Kathmandu. The land on which the buildings built by the Indian Embassy stand was given to the Foundation by the government. The government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba had provided three ropani 11 aana two paisa two daam of land to the Madan Bhandari Study and Research Centre on August 23, 2001.

“We received three ropani of land in 2001 when Sher Bahadur Deuba was the Prime Minister. The college is operating on that land,” says Degendra Pandey, a central member of the Foundation. He is the brother of former President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

A copy of the document transferring ownership of the college building, constructed by the Indian Embassy, to the Kathmandu District Development Committee

The Foundation, which has strong access to government resources, has a nationwide network. In some districts, the Foundation’s district committees are also active. The Foundation directly operates the Madan Bhandari Memorial School in Jorpati, Kathmandu, and the Madan Bhandari Memorial College in Binayaknagar, Kathmandu Ward 10. The Madan Bhandari Agricultural Technical School is also an institution affiliated with the Foundation. Besides these, the Madan Bhandari Sports Academy, Madan Bhandari Literature and Art Academy, and Madan Bhandari Intellectual Forum are also parts of the Foundation.

Madan Bhandari Memorial College in Binayaknagar. Photo: Bikram Rai/Nepal News

The financial and physical details of the Foundation obtained by Nepal News are only of the central structure of the Foundation. The district-level branches of the Foundation independently receive financial grants and support from government and private sources. However, the details of these are not found at the central office of the Foundation.

Questioning the justification of the grant

On May 31, 2021, the then Chief Minister of Bagmati Province, Dormani Paudel, announced that the Rs 5 million declared by the provincial government for the Foundation would be returned. The opposition CPN (Maoist Centre) had strongly protested against the money that the Paudel-led government, close to former President Bhandari, had intended to give to the Foundation at that time. Due to this issue, the Maoist party had even obstructed the Bagmati Provincial Assembly. Subsequently, Chief Minister Paudel was forced to withdraw the decision. Paudel, who was on the Foundation’s central working committee for nine years, is currently the coordinator of Madan Bhandari’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration Committee.

The financial and physical assistance received by the Foundation has been questioned not only by the Maoists but also by Paudel’s own party, the UML. Former Prime Minister and UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli also made sarcastic remarks about the Foundation after his relationship with its patron, former President Bidya Devi Bhandari, soured. Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of the new working committee of the Madan-Ashrit Memorial Foundation on August 11, 2025, Oli called the institution opened in the name of the leader a ‘vessel for fraud’ within the family circle. Oli’s comment, who was once considered the promoter and patron of the Foundation, was the result of his bitterness with Bhandari. At that time, Oli also expressed anger that the foundations/institutions established in the name of leaders by the party were not operating according to party policy. Oli became agitated after Bhandari, who claimed the chairmanship of the UML, started parallel activities through the Foundation. For a long time, Oli and Bhandari were complementary to each other, not only in UML politics but also in the development of the Foundation. However, after Bhandari challenged Oli, they have recently stood on two different sides.

Following the cooling of his relationship with Bhandari, Oli has countered her-led Foundation by bringing forward the Madan-Ashrit Memorial Foundation, led by Deputy General Secretary Pradeep Gyawali. This Foundation was established in memory of the then UML General Secretary Madan Bhandari and Organization Department Chief Jeevraj Ashrit, who died in a jeep accident in Dasdhunga, Chitwan, on May 16, 1993. Before Gyawali, the late UML leader Pradeep Nepal was its head for some time.

“I did not think that the party chairman, who is knowledgeable about the operation of the Foundation for a long time, would say such a thing. Nevertheless, our accounts are transparent. We will make the income and expenditure public,” says Degendra Pandey, a central member of the Foundation. “Preparations are underway to quickly put all the details of the Foundation on the webpage.”

KP Sharma Oli, Bidya Devi Bhandari, Usha Kiran Bhandari and others at a program organized by the foundation on the 74th birth anniversary of Madan Bhandari

Although Pandey had stated last August that the Foundation’s financial details would be posted on the webpage soon, they have not been uploaded yet. The Foundation is registered under the National Guidance Act, 1961. Institutions registered under this Act are not required to renew every year, nor is it mandatory to submit financial details to government bodies. Similarly, there is no requirement to obtain approval from the Social Welfare Council for operating any project. Based on the immunity provided by this loophole in the Act, the Foundation has not made public the details of the grants and assistance received from the state treasury, foreign embassies, and other bodies.

Senior economist Keshav Acharya views the provision of government budgets to the Madan Bhandari Foundation and similar institutions established in the name of leaders as a misuse of public taxes. He points out that even in foreign countries, governments support institutions opened in the name of important national figures but have provisions to prevent their misuse.

He adds, “The irony in Nepal is that there is no investigation into where and how the money given by the government in the name of a leader is spent. This is not only wrong but also an encouragement to the exploitation of the state treasury.”

The Madan Bhandari Foundation is a social organization that was initially registered as the Madan Bhandari Study and Research Centre on September 21, 1999 at the Kathmandu District Administration Office. Initially, Achyut Prasad Neupane was the president of this institution. Bidya Devi Bhandari was the patron of the 10-member working committee. Since then, she has been continuously in the role of president or patron. The institution was transformed into a Foundation by the decision of the Kathmandu District Administration Office on July 1, 2004. Until then, the Foundation was registered under the Institution Registration Act, 1977.

By the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Foundation was registered at the Kathmandu District Administration Office under the National Guidance Act, 1961 on April 1, 2010.

The Madan Bhandari Memorial College, though appearing separate, is under the Foundation. To the extent that the college has given one crore rupees to the Foundation as a loan for its operation. The audit report for the fiscal year 2024/25 mentions that the Foundation has to repay this amount to the college.

A copy of the landownership certificate of government land granted to the Madan Bhandari Foundation

The college has received grants from the University Grants Commission for infrastructure construction and operation. The annual report of the University Grants Commission for the fiscal year 2022/23 mentions that Rs 1.55 million were allocated to the Madan Bhandari Memorial College under three headings. Mahendra Bahadur Pandey, the Chairman of the College Management Committee, says, “Even though the Foundation established it, the college is run autonomously.”

The Foundation has also taken loans from the bank by mortgaging the land. In the fiscal year 2018/19, the Madan Bhandari School and the Foundation are seen to have taken a loan of nearly Rs 50 million.

A copy of document from Madan Bhandari Foundation granting landownership rights to college

The balance sheet of the Foundation for the fiscal year 2019/20 mentions a loan of Rs 19.80 million in the name of the school from Prabhu Bank and Rs 29.50 million in the name of the Foundation. Devi Prakash Bhattachan, the then chairman of Prabhu Bank, became a proportional member of parliament from the UML in 2022, and Ashok Sherchan, the Chief Executive Officer, is a member of the Foundation’s current working committee. Bhattachan is the same person who was arrested last week by the CIB and is being investigated on the charge of defrauding a cooperative of one billion rupees.

Foundation’s political power

The Foundation’s statute mandates that a member must accept the ‘People’s Multiparty Democracy’ put forward by the then UML General Secretary Madan Bhandari. Although it claims to strengthen and enrich Bhandari’s ideological subject, the Foundation has been active as a parallel political platform of the UML since its inception. For this reason, UML leaders from the Oli faction have recently questioned the role of the Foundation.

At one time, the Foundation played an important role in the political rise of UML Chairman Oli. This Foundation is also the platform that helped Bidya Devi Bhandari, who served two terms as President, rise to power. After becoming President on October 28, 2015, Bhandari left the chairmanship of the Foundation. Since then, her eldest daughter, Ushakiran Bhandari, has been leading the Foundation.

After stepping down as President in March 2023, Bhandari has once again become the patron of the Foundation. To the extent that, she is currently seen attempting to reach the leadership of the UML by using the Foundation as a base. The reason she announced her return to active politics in the UML from the Foundation’s platform is her ambition to reach the UML leadership. On June 28, 2025, on the occasion of Madan Bhandari’s 75th birth anniversary, she announced her return to active politics in the UML at the National Assembly Hall.

Before announcing her return to politics, Bhandari attempted to build momentum in her favor by organizing various political programs through the Foundation’s district committees. Alarmed by Bhandari’s attempt to return to politics and become the UML chairperson, Chairman Oli closed the path for Bhandari to even become a UML member. As the distance with Bhandari increases, Chairman Oli appears aggressive towards the Foundation.

The basis of Oli’s rise

Oli publicly questioned the justification of the Foundation. As the distance between Oli and Bhandari increased, the Foundation’s chairperson, Ushakiran, resigned from the UML’s Foreign Affairs Department. This happened despite the fact that Rs 90 million were allocated to the Foundation through the Ministry of Urban Development in the Oli government’s budget, which came out on May 29, one month before Bidya Bhandari announced her return to active politics.

Bidya Bhandari and KP Sharma Oli have a direct role in the establishment of the Foundation. They expanded their power within the UML by engaging in various activities within the same Foundation. With the support of that power, Bhandari became President twice and Oli became Prime Minister four times. Both played an active role in the initial establishment and operation of the Foundation and the Madan Bhandari Memorial College under it. Minutes from the initial meetings for the college’s establishment in 2000 show that meetings and decisions were made in the presence of Bhandari and Oli.

Founding meeting records of Madan Bhandari College, signed by Management Committee members, including K.P. Sharma Oli and Bidhya Bhandari

Narayana Dhakal, a UML elected Member of Parliament in the 1996 by-election from Kathmandu Constituency No. 1, which Madan Bhandari won in 1991, says that the activities of the Madan Bhandari Foundation are not bringing a good name but a bad name to Bhandari’s personality.

Stating that the Foundation is just a hotbed for factionalism in UML politics, he says, “The Foundation has been involved in factionalism from the beginning. Even though Oliji is protesting now, one cannot forget the fact that he also benefited from the Foundation in the past.”

When Oli was weak in the UML, this Foundation provided him with a nationwide political forum. Through the Foundation’s platform, Oli debated the democratization of the UML. When Madhav Kumar Nepal and later Jhalanath Khanal were the party heads, Oli ran parallel activities through this platform to challenge the party’s authority.

At that time, the faction other than Oli-Bhandari within the UML used to criticize the Foundation for running parallel activities. The Foundation, which has been practicing parallel power for Oli and Bhandari since the beginning, has recently become a political platform for Bhandari using government resources.