Three years on, Jhalanath Khanal has not only ended Nepal´s supremacy in the party but also replaced the former as head of the government. [break]
In hindsight, Nepal´s underestimation of Khanal has proven to be a turning point in the latter’s political career of over 40 years. Khanal is now not only the chairman of the third largest party in the Constituent Assembly but also the prime minister of a coalition government backed by the largest party in the country.
Till three years ago Khanal had only nominal influence in the party´s decision-making as he had remained sidelined by the party establishment for a period of almost 20 years that began with the rise of perhaps Nepal’s most charismatic leftist leader, the late Madan Bhandari.
Bhandari punished Khanal for taking sides with C P Mainali and championing a New Democracy during the party´s fifth general convention, and he relegated the former party general secretary to the level of central committee member. After Bhandari’s sudden death in 1993, Madhav Nepal held sway in the party for 14 years.
As luck would have it, Khanal got a chance to coordinate party activities during Janaandolan II after Nepal and another influential UML leader, KP Oli, were arrested. Luck stayed with him during the CA election as well: He was only one of two standing committee members of the party to survive the Maoist wave, and was elected from a constituency in Ilam district.
It was for this reason also that Nepal handed over leadership to Khanal and appointed him as the party´s acting general secretary. Khanal soon consolidated his power inside the party and was elected chairman during the eighth general convention in 2009.
Once he started feeling confident about his own strength in the party Khanal began to challenge the government led by Nepal. Relations between Nepal and Khanal turned antagonistic as the Nepal camp complained of lack of cooperation from the party chairman.
When the Maoists mounted their attack against Nepal and made his resignation a precondition for dialogue and cooperation, he stepped down, about seven months ago. But he grumbled privately that had his party backed him fully he would not have had to resign.
In revenge against Khanal, Nepal lobbied hard against the former heading a new government immediately after his own resignation.
In the first round of voting in the PM election, Khanal was allowed to file his candidacy for the post only on the condition that he would be able lead a government with a two-third majority.
Khanal has eventually overcome all these challenges and has emerged as the 34th prime minister of the country. He is now perhaps at the pinnacle of a political career that he began as a student leader.
Khanal joined politics in the late 1960s and reached his first high in 1982 as CPN-ML general secretary. It was in 1990 that the late Bhandari wrested the party leadership away from him.
´Khanal was a popular teacher´
New Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal was a popular teacher nearly 42 years ago in Baglung district. Khanal had taught science and maths for about a year at Galkot Secondary School in 2025 BS for grade nine and ten.
Chitra Bahadur KC, who is now the chairman of Rastriya Janamorcha had taken Khanal to that school as a teacher.
"We were friends and our school had been without a science and maths teacher at that time," recalled KC, adding, "Khanal was jobless after taking his ISc exams. We proposed him to join the school and he accepted our proposal."
KC admitted that Khanal was liked by his students. "He was not a strict teacher. He was sincere to his duty and had gained popularity among students," KC added.
KC was the headmaster of that school and Khanal had served as a teacher. "We would engage Khanal in party activities despite his teaching duties. He was always ready to move out and had left good impression as an active party cadre too." KC recalled.
According to KC, Khanal was arrested when he was serving as a teacher. "He was released after 70 days of imprisonment. We had advised him to move to Jhapa to escape arrest," KC said.
Khanal had got communist party membership from Baglung. "We had given him party membership for the first time, from Baglung," KC added.
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