Former Prime Minister of Nepal Sushil Koirala passed away on Tuesday.
Koirala, who was elected Prime Minister of Nepal on February 10, 2014, resigned as PM in October last year after parties failed to forge a consensus amid continued protests and blockade of a key border trade point with India over the country’s new Constitution.
Born on 12 August 1939 in Banaras, India, Koirala was the cousin of former PMs Matrika Prasad Koirala, Girija Prasad Koirala and Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi expressed her grief over the death of former Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, saying he “led his country during extremely difficult and testing times”.
“He led his country during extremely difficult and testing times and contributed immensely to the transition of Nepal into a Republic,” she said in a statement.
“Underlining the close relation with Nepal as also that with the Nepali Congress, to which Koirala belonged, his contribution to fostering Indo-Nepal ties will always be remembered,” Sonia added.
He entered politics in 1954 and was in political exile in India for 16 years following the royal takeover of 1960. Koirala also spent three years in Indian prisons for his involvement in a plane hijacking in 1973.
