Prime Minister

Rt. Hon’ble Prime Minister

Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Nepali: पुष्पकमल दाहाल; born 11 December 1954), also widely known by his nom de guerre Prachanda (Nepali: प्रचण्ड, meaning “fierce”), is a Nepalese politician serving as the current Prime Minister of Nepal. He previously held the prime ministerial post from 2008 to 2009, and again from 2016 to 2017.

Dahal was born in Pokhara, Kaski and he spent most of his childhood in Chitwan, where, he received a diploma of science in agriculture from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS) in Rampur, Chitwan. He joined left-wing political parties after seeing severe poverty in his youth. In 1981, he joined the Communist Party of Nepal (Fourth Convention), and later became general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) in 1989, this party, later, became the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). Dahal was the leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) during the country’s civil war and subsequent peace process and the 1st Nepalese constituent assembly. In the 2008 elections, CPN(M) emerged as the largest party, and Dahal became Prime Minister in August of that year. He resigned from the post on 4 May 2009, after his attempt to sack the then army chief, General Rookmangud Katawal, was opposed by then President Ram Baran Yadav.

Dahal was sworn in as prime minister for the second time in 2016, as per an agreement to form a rotational government by Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre), and he resigned from the post of Prime Minister on 24 May 2017. Following the 2022 Nepalese general election, with a alliance with CPN (UML), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, and other political parties, Dahal was sworn in as the Prime Minister in 2022.