Kathmandu, January 3

Niranjan Koirala, elder brother of Nepali Congress central member Shekhar Koirala, passed away this morning in New Delhi. He was 75.

Niranjan aka ‘Niru Da’, who played an active role in re-establishing democracy in the 1990s People’s Movement, succumbed to the coronavirus, according to his family. A few years after the restoration of democracy, Koirala had moved to New Delhi where he spent most of the time with his wife and two sons.

Koirala also worked as a tourism entrepreneur in Nepal and served as adviser to the then tourism minister Ram Hari Joshi.

Shekhar Koirala’s personal secretary Dinesh Chandra Thapaliya said he died at 11:00am today. Shekhar had gone to Delhi a week ago after Niranjan’s health started deteriorating. He was undergoing treatment at Max Hospital in New Delhi for the past one month.

Niranjan is the son of Keshav Koirala and Nona Koirala, whose family lineage is related to Congress’ politics.