Rijal resigns as Defence Minister following loss in party’s general secretary election

KATHMANDU: Dr Minendra Rijal, who suffered a loss for the general secretary post of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC), has resigned as the Minister of Finance. 

Rijal handed over his resignation letter to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba at the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers in Singha Durbar on Thursday. 

Shortly after the party’s election committee began releasing preliminary vote count 

Rijal contested the election for two general secretarial positions from the Shekhar Koirala panel. Of the 4,682 votes cast, he won only 809 votes. 

According to the final vote tally, Gagan Thapa and Bishwo Prakash Sharma emerged victorious as the general secretaries.