KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress president and former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala passed away on Saturday after a prolonged illness. Koirala, 87, breathed his last at 12:11pm at his daughter’s residence in Madhikhatar, Kathmandu, doctors attending on him said.

Koirala was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He had been elected Prime Minister of Nepal six times, from 1991 to 1994, 1998 to 1999, 2000 to 2001, and from 2006 and 2007. Koirala, who started his career as a labour leader in the jute mills of his hometown Biratnagar, has been active in politics for over sixty years.

Koirala was born in Tadi, Saharsha district, in Bihar, India in 1925 when his family was in exile. He was the youngest son of Krishna Prasad Koirala and Divya Koirala. Two of his elder brothers, BP Koirala and Matrika Prasad Koirala, also became prime ministers of Nepal in the years that followed the family's return to Nepal in 1929. He married Sushma Koirala and has a daughter Sujata Koirala.

In 1948, Koirala founded the Nepal Mazdoor Congress, later known as the Nepal Trade Union Congress. Later, in 1952, he became the president of the Morang district of Nepali Congress and held that office until he was arrested and imprisoned by King Mahendra following the 1960 royal coup. Upon his release in 1967, Girija Prasad Koirala, along with other leaders and workers of the party, was exiled in India until his return to Nepal in 1979. Koirala was general secretary of the Nepali Congress Party from 1975 to 1991. He was actively involved in the 1990 Jana Andolan which led to the abrogation of the Panchayat rule and the introduction of multi-party politics in the country.

Koirala was elected Member of Parliament in 1991 in Nepal's first multi-party democratic elections following the Jana Aandolan from the Morang-1 and Sunsari-5 constituencies.

He took over as Prime Minister from Surya Bahadur Thapa following the collapse of the coalition government led by Thapa. Koirala first headed a Nepali Congress minority government until December 25, 1998 after which he headed a three-party coalition government with the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and the Nepal Sadhbhawana Party. He became Prime Minister in 2000 for a third term following the resignation of Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, under whose leadership his party had won the Parliamentary Election.

After the reinstatement of the Nepal House of Representatives on April 24, 2006 following the Jana Andolan, Koirala was selected to become Prime Minister by the leaders of the Seven Party.

Following the promulgation of the interim constitution, Koirala, as the Prime Minister has been the interim head of state of Nepal. On 1 April 2007, Koirala was re-elected PM to head a new government comprising of the seven party alliance and the Unified CPN -Maoist.

To honour his special role in resolving the Maoist conflict in Nepal, the government recently nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Koirala is the author of the book Simple Convictions: My Struggle for Peace and Democracy.