Nepal reposes faith in old guard Koirala

In 1991, Koirala became Nepal's first elected prime minister in 30 years when his social democratic Nepali Congress won elections after then King Birendra gave in to a popular and violent demand for multi-party democracy.

A similar mass campaign this month against King Gyanendra, -- Birendra's brother who grabbed power last year -- culminated in the monarch agreeing to step down and reinstating a dissolved parliament, leading to Koirala's return.

In the intervening decade-and-a-half, Koirala, 84, has watched Nepal plunge from the heady days of a new democracy to the brink of chaos. He has himself been prime minister four times, reflecting the political instability that plagued the nation since 1991.

With the impoverished Himalayan kingdom staring at severe political, economic and humanitarian crises left in the wake of 15 years of turmoil, Koirala's fifth time as prime minister is expected to be his most challenging. "It was a nascent democracy. We all made mistakes, myself also," Koirala told Reuters less than two weeks ago.

"But democracy is a system to address the mistakes also. People have realised it. In future, we will not make those mistakes," he said, referring to the misrule and corruption that plagued Nepali politics under multi-party democracy.

Analysts describe the chain-smoking, former trade union leader as stubborn, inflexible and sometimes, inarticulate.

However, the politician who never went to college is also credited with introducing sweeping economic reforms and privatisation in the face of communist objections.

Nearly 60 years ago, Koirala organised a labour strike in a jute mill against the then hereditary prime minister from the Rana family and, as punishment, had to walk for 45 days from his hometown, Biratnagar, in east Nepal, to Kathmandu.

Years later, when King Mahendra, father of the present monarch, banned political parties in 1960, Koirala spent seven years in jail and later went into exile in neighbouring India for opposing absolute monarchy.

That spirit seems very much alive despite his failing health which has forced him to remain confined to his bungalow in an upmarket Kathmandu neighbourhood.