Matrika Prasad Koirala

Matrika Prasad Koirala (मातृका प्रसाद कोइराला ; 1 January 1912 – 11 September 1997) was the Prime Minister of Nepal for two terms from 16 November 1951 to 14 August 1952 and again from 15 June 1953 to 11 April 1955.

Koirala was born to Krishna Prasad Koirala and his first wife Mohan Kumari Koirala in 1912 in Varanasi, British India.

His brothers were Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala and Girija Prasad Koirala, who also served as the Prime Minister of Nepal, and politician and journalist Tarini Prasad Koirala.

Matrika Prasad Koirala was politically active in India where his father Krishna Prasad Koirala was living in exile.

He stayed in the house of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of free India and was influenced by the Indian Independence Struggle.

He participated in the Indian independence movement with his brother BP Koirala.

Both brothers were arrested and imprisoned by the British Raj for three months in 1930.

He was made President of the Congress Party in Bihar by Dr Rajendra Prasad for a while as all the other senior Indian leaders were jailed during the Quit India Movement.

He later joined the Nepali National Congress led by Tanka Prasad Acharya and fought against the Rana regime.

Koirala became the first President of Nepali Congress, when it was formed as a result of the merger of Nepali National Congress and Nepal Democratic Congress in April 1950.

Koirala became the first commoner Prime Minister of Nepal after Rana rule ended.

In 1952, he was expelled from the Nepali Congress for "violating the party principles and acting against the Constitution of 1951".

Koirala also served as Nepal's permanent representative to the UN and ambassador to the United States from 1961 to 1964.