Gateways for Pashupati Murarka to become the President of private sector apex body had opened after two other hopefuls Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar and Bhawani Rana pulled off from the election race supporting Murarka. The FNCCI top post has remained vacant since Pradeep Jung Pandey was sentenced jail on March 18 over a three-decade old corruption case. Since Murarka will be stepping in the boots of Pandey, his working tenure will last for around 21 months.

Currently, Special Annual General Meeting of FNCCI is underway at Nepal Academy in Kamaladi, Kathmandu.  Addressing the inaugural ceremony Murarka thanked the FNCCI members, election contenders and former presidents for believing him to undertake the task of rejuvenating the private sector apex body. “The FNCCI is set to step into the 50th year of its establishment soon. I have got a task of celebrating the golden jubilee of the FNCCI,” Murarka said. “I will ensure that no stone will remain unturned to make the event a grand ceremony within the country and in the foreign land.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Development Prakash Man Singh thanked the FNCCI for presenting an example by choosing a unanimous candidate for assuming the position of President. “This is an example for politicians as well. I congratulate the FNCCI for this,” Singh said. He encouraged the private sector to put forward issues regarding constitution draft and provide inputs to make it more helpful and friendly with the country’s private sector. Singh also stressed on the need of coordination of government with the private sector for reconstruction initiative post April 25 Great Earthquake and subsequent aftershocks which killed around 9,000 people.

In its five decade long journey, the FNCCI is set to welcome second leader from the Marwari community. Before this, Chaudhary Group President Binod Chaudhary had served the institution in capacity of President from 1993-1995. Though prominent industrialists Diwakar Golchha and Rajendra Khetan from the Marwari community had made it to the position of the senior vice president and second vice president respectively, both of them had failed to become the president.