Bhishma Raj Angdembe has been elected unanimously as the leader of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party. A meeting of the party’s parliamentary party on Monday took the decision.

Earlier, a party’s central work execution committee meeting had unanimously proposed Angdembe’s name for the post, said spokesperson Devraj Chalise.

Although the names of Mohan Acharya and Arjun Narsingh KC were also discussed earlier, a consensus was eventually reached on Angdembe.

The party was unable to finalise its parliamentary leader due to competing claims from KC, Angdembe and Acharya. Angdembe is said to have received support from both the former party president Sher Bahadur Deuba's faction and the leader Shekhar Koirala’s faction.

Vice-presidents Bishwo Prakash Sharma and Puspa Bhusal, along with secretaries Pradip Paudel and Gururaj Ghimire, were engaged in discussions to build consensus on the leadership.

Who is Angdembe?

Born in Phalgunanda Rural Municipality–1 of Panchthar (then Nabamidanda), Angdembe, now 63, supported multiparty democracy in the 1979 referendum. He remained active in subsequent political movements.

He has held various positions in the Nepal Students Union, Nepal Tarun Dal, and within Congress.

He played an active role in the 1990 People’s Movement, which restored multiparty democracy in Nepal, establishing himself as a frontline youth leader. He was also arrested during the protests.

Serving two terms as a central committee member of the Nepal Students Union from 1990 to 1996, he was involved in organisational building, cadre mobilisation, and the expansion of democratic values, establishing a distinct identity within the party.

Angdembe became central vice-president of the Nepal Tarun Dal in 1998, further strengthening his position as an influential youth leader within Congress.

He also actively participated in the 2006 People’s Movement against the monarchy and was again arrested during the protests.

In the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Panchthar constituency-2, marking his entry into parliamentary politics. Earlier, in the 1999 House of Representatives election, he contested from the same constituency but was defeated by CPN-UML candidate Dambar Singh Sambahamphe.

After being elected to the Constituent Assembly, he served as chair of the Industry, Commerce, Labour and Consumer Interest Committee, where he led work on economic policy, trade regulation, and consumer rights.