Nepal former deputy PM passes away

Kathmandu, June 12 (ANI): Former Deputy Prime Minister and Nepali Congress leader Shailaja Acharya passed away this morning while undergoing treatment at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Maharagunj.

Acharya, 68, breathed her last at 4.25 am. She was admitted at the hospital on Wednesday after complained of sudden uneasiness and had been put on ventilator support in the Intensive Care Unit since then.

Acharya entered politics as a student when, inspired by her family's role in the pro-democracy movement, she showed a black flag to then King Mahendra, who held absolute power. She was jailed for three years for the offence.

She went to India and spent nine years in exile and was close to veteran Indian Congress and Socialist leaders, especially former Indian premier Chandra Shekhar.

She returned to Nepal with BP Koirala in 1976 with a message of reconciliation.

Acharya was appointed the Agriculture Minister in the first elected government after the restoration of democracy in 1990. She resigned saying there was too much corruption in the ministry.

In a coalition government in 1997, Acharya was the deputy prime minister and the minister for water resources. (ANI)