Slapped politician becomes Nepal’s new PM

KATHMANDU - The chief of Nepal’s ruling communist party, who was slapped by a disgruntled former supporter for holding the nation to ransom for seven months, managed to woo the opposition Maoists Thursday to become Nepal’s 34th prime minister after 16 unprecedented rounds of fruitless voting.

Jhalanath Khanal, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist whose own party had unceremoniously pulled him out of the earlier elections, polled 368 votes to clinch a decisive victory after Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda withdrew his nomination to support him.

His rivals, Ram Chandra Poudel of the Nepali Congress got 122 votes while Bijay Kumar Gacchedar of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Democratic polled only 67 votes.

(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)