Shailaja Acharya passes away; top political leaders pay their last respects
Nepali Congress leader and former deputy Prime Minister Shailaja Acharya
passed away at the age of 65 Friday morning while undergoing treatment at
Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj.
Acharya had been ill since past two years and hospitalised since the past
year. She had undergone treatment in Bangkok and Kathmandu. Doctors in
Bangkok, where Acharya had been hospitalised for nine months, had
diagnosed her with Alzheimer's disease.
She breathed her last at 4.25 am. She was admitted at the hospital
Wednesday after she complained of respiratory problem and was put on
ventilator support at the Intensive Care Unit since then.
Late Acharya was among the few women leaders who made a remarkable
contribution to reinstate democracy in the country in 1990.
She was jailed for showing black flag to the then King Mahendra in 1961.
She went into self-exile in India when she was released from jail after
three years. She returned to Nepal with her political mentor and then NC
president B.P Koirala in 1976 with a message of national reconciliation.
Acharya was appointed agriculture minister in the first elected government
following the restoration of democracy in 1990. She resigned from the
post, complaining of widespread corruption in the ministry. In the
coalition government in 1997, Acharya was the deputy prime minister with
water resources portfolio.
Her body was kept at the NC central office, Sanepa, for a few hours for
paying last respects.
NC president Girija Prasad Koirala, who is her maternal uncle, Prime
Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, UML chairman Jhala Nath Khanal, Maoist
leaders Narayankaji Shrestha and Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Rastriya
Prajatantra Party chairman Pashupati Shumsher Rana, and huge number of NC
cadres and relatives were present there to pay their last respects to her.
Her last rites were performed at the Pashupati Aryaghat amid huge presence of political leaders, activists and relatives. Nepal Army offered 9-gun
salute as an honour to the late Congress leader.
Meanwhile, the legislature parliament passed a condolence note on
Acharya's death. Today's sitting ended without entering into the regular
business. Speaker Subas Nemwang presented the condolence note before the
House.
Unified CPN (Maoist), which has been disrupting the House proceedings for
several days now, allowed the sitting to take place in order to pass the
condolence note. nepalnews.com June 12 09
