 Mahdi and is associates were expelled from the party.The "Widhat al-Qa'idah" group responded by claiming that they were the legitimate leadership of the Iraqi Communist Party (Central Command), and declared Mahmud expelled from the party.Effectively there were now two separate parties called Iraqi Communist Party (Central Command), the party led by the general secretary Mahmud and the party led by "Widha al-Qa'idah" group.