Sher Bahadur Deuba, who Tuesday became prime minister for the fourth time, is a sharp political operator who has swept in and out of power through a series of alliances typical of the horse-trading that defines Nepali politics.
Deuba last held power in the final years of the brutal 10-year civil war, which claimed more than 16,000 lives and displaced thousands.
His failure to bring an end to the conflict prompted King Gyanendra Shah to retake control of the country in 2005, removing Deuba as prime minister.
The return to royal rule was short-lived. Popular protests against the king saw a democratic government retake control the following year and sign an agreement with the Maoists to end the conflict.
The monarchy was abolished in 2008.
Deuba leads the centre-right Nepali Congress, currently the largest party in parliament.
He first came to power in 1995 and survived a no-confidence vote that same year brought by the main opposition party and a faction of his ruling coalition.
He reportedly dispatched an influential minister to Thailand before the vote so the minister could not fan sentiment against him in parliament.
Deuba became prime minister for a second time after the then-Nepali Congress leader resigned over a dispute with the king in 2001, only to then be removed by the monarchy himself a year later, who branded him “incompetent”.
Twenty months later, the monarch was instrumental in bringing Deuba to power for a third time, to then remove him again from the post a year later.
His confirmation as prime minister this time around was unopposed in parliament thanks to a gentleman’s agreement with his one-time foe Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a former Maoist guerrilla chief who resigned from the top position two weeks ago.
Dahal came to power last August with the backing of Deuba’s Nepali Congress on the understanding that he would step aside after local elections, to give Deuba another turn at the top.
It was an uncomfortable alliance — at the height of the civil war Deuba, then prime minister, had announced a five million rupee ($50,000) bounty for Dahal’s capture, dead or alive.
Deuba, 70, was born in a remote western district and rose through the student wing of the Nepali Congress at a time when the country was under the direct royal rule.
He was jailed for protesting against the king’s increasingly authoritarian regime and was tortured.
Deuba suffers from a speech defect reportedly caused by the torture he endured, which left him with permanent damage to his tongue and lips.
He was first elected to parliament from his home town after democracy was restored in the early 1990s and became home minister.
Deuba’s critics describe him as a smooth political operator not motivated by ideology.
He was strongly criticised for signing a water-sharing deal with India in 1996, which sparked protests amongst more nationalistic elements.
He was also censured for paving the way for the king’s takeover in 2005 by dissolving the elected parliament at the height of the Maoist insurgency, which caused a deep split within his party.
But he is credited with pushing through a series of laws to free bonded farm labourers which were a product of Nepal’s deeply ingrained feudal society.
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