From BP To Shashanka, Koirala Family's Seven-Decade Long Political Legacy In Nepal

For well over 75 years, the Koirala family in Nepal has remained one of the most influential political dynasties. It has produced four prime ministers and has been at the front and centre of the Nepali Congress (NC) for decades.

The NC was launched on January 25, 1947, with Tanka Prasad Acharya as president. But since Acharya was in prison serving a life sentence, Bishweshwar Prasad (BP) Koirala became the acting president and ran the party.

BP Koirala

BP Koirala became the first democratically elected and 22nd Prime Minister of Nepal in 1959. He led the Nepali Congress, a social democratic political party. However, in December 1960, King Mahendra abruptly ended the democratic experiment and dismissed Koirala and his Cabinet.

Mahendra arrested him and took direct control of the government. BP Koirala was jailed without a formal trial in 1960 and remained in prison until 1968, when he was allowed to leave for India and live in exile. When Koirala returned to Nepal in 1976, he was arrested again, this time on charges of treason and sedition. He died on July 21, 1982, in Kathmandu.

Matrika Prasad Koirala

Brother of BP Koirala, he was the prime minister of Nepal for two separate terms, between 1951 and 1952 and again from 1953 to 1955. He was the founder of the Nepali National Congress, which later became the Nepali Congress. He led the party during a key period when Nepal was transitioning from Rana autocracy to a more democratic system.

Koirala became the first commoner prime minister of Nepal after the Rana rule ended. In 1952, he was expelled from the Nepali Congress on charges of violating party principles and acting against the Constitution of 1951. In 1952, he founded his own party named the Rashtriya Praja Party.

He was also the ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative at the United Nations between 1962 and 1964. He died on September 11, 1997.

Girija Prasad Koirala

Affectionately called Girija Babu, he was the younger brother of BP Koirala and Matrika Prasad Koirala. He led the Nepali Congress party and served as Prime Minister of Nepal four times, between 1991–1994, 1998–1999, 2000–2001, and 2006–2008.

He was arrested by King Mahendra after the 1960 royal coup and later exiled to India along with other party leaders. He returned to Nepal in 1979. From 1975 to 1991, he was the general secretary of the Nepali Congress.

He started the first political workers' movement in Nepal, called the Biratnagar Jute Mill strike, in his hometown of Biratnagar. He was actively involved in the 1990 Jana Andolan, which ended the Panchayat system. During his stint as PM, he launched a military operation against the Maoist rebels. The campaign received severe criticism after it led to the deaths of several civilians. He died on March 20, 2010.

Sushil Koirala

Sushil Prasad Koirala, maternal brother of BP Koirala, was a senior leader of the Nepali Congress, serving as both party president and prime minister. He served as Prime Minister of Nepal from February 2014 to 10 October 2015. He was president of the Nepali Congress party from 2010 to 2016.

He stayed in exile for 16 years in India. During his exile, he spent three years in Indian prisons because of his involvement in a plane hijacking in 1973. He became a member of the party's Central Working Committee in 1979, later general secretary in 1996, and vice president in 1998. He died of pneumonia in Kathmandu in 2016.

Shashanka Koirala

One of the three sons of late BP Koirala, he was the general secretary of the Nepali Congress. In 2008, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly from the Nawalparasi-1 constituency and was the only Koirala family member elected through the First Past the Post system in that election.

In 2010, he was elected to the Central Working Committee of the Nepali Congress. He is also a renowned ophthalmologist.

Sujata Koirala

The only daughter of former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, she served as foreign minister of Nepal under Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal. On October 12, 2009, she was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister, becoming the second woman ever to hold this position in Nepal.

Mother of actor Manisha Koirala, Sujata is the immediate chief of the International Relations Department of the Nepali Congress and also a member of the party's Central Working Committee and the head of the International Relations Department.

She also holds various leadership positions, such as Standing Committee member and Vice-Chairperson of the Women's Wing in ICAPP and Chairperson of the Women's Wing of the GPCEA.

Nepal is preparing to hold elections for 275 constituencies on March 5.