Girija Prasad Koirala

Who was Girija Prasad Koirala?

Girija Prasad Koirala, commonly known as G P Koirala, was a Nepalese statesman. He headed the Nepali Congress and served as the Prime Minister of Nepal on four occasions, including from 1991 to 1994, 1998 to 1999, 2000 to 2001, and from 2006 to 2008. He was the Acting Head of State of Nepal between January 2007 and July 2008 as the country transitioned from a monarchy to a republic.

Koirala, who was active in politics for over sixty years, was a pioneer of the Nepalese labour movement, having started a workers' movement in the Jute mills of his hometown, Biratnagar. In 1991 he became the first democratically elected Prime Minister since 1959, when his brother B. P. Koirala and the Nepali Congress party were swept into power in the country's first democratic election.