Former finance minister and CPN leader Bharat Mohan Adhikari has passed away Saturday night.
He breathed his last at 9:45 in the night, according to HAMS Hospital where the ailing leader was undergoing treatment for the pas three weeks. He was 82.
He was admitted to Mediciti Hospital around two months back for treatment of pneumonia and other respiratory problems. He was then shifted to HAMS around a month later after his condition did not improve there.
Organizing a press conference earlier in the afternoon, doctors at HAMS had said his vital organs have stopped working and there is little chance of saving him.
Adhikari is recognized as a successful finance minister. He started popular programs like elderly allowance and budget for local bodies when he led the Finance Ministry during the minority government of Man Mohan Adhikari.
He became finance minister two more times; once in the Sher Bahadur Deuba government after the parliament was dissolved, and again in the Jhala Nath Khanal government.