Career
He was the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (CPN (UML)) and Leader of the Constituent Assembly Parliamentary Party of the CPN (UML). Khanal served for a time as Minister of Information and Communication in the 1997 coalition government. He led the CPN (UML) as General Secretary from 2008 to February 2009 and was elected as the Chairman of the CPN (UML) on February 16, 2009.
On 3 February 2011, after seven months of political gridlock in which no candidate could muster enough votes to be elected as Prime Minister, Jhala Nath Khanal was elected as Prime Minister by the Constituent Assembly.
Nepal had no proper government since Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned in June 2010. However, on 3 February 2011 the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (Nepal"s largest party) withdrew its candidate, Pushpa Kamal Dahal (“Prachanda”), and backed Khanal, who as a result became the third Prime Minister of Nepal since it became a republic in 2008.
Khanal"s immediate tasks as Prime Minister included the preparation of a new republican constitution by a May 28 deadline, and negotiating the future of some 20,000 Maoist combatants.
