Rekha Sharma sworn-in as Communication Minister (with her bio)

By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Jan 17: Rekha Sharma has been sworn-in as the Minister for Communication and Information Technology.

A leader of CPN (Maoist Center), Sharma was elected to the member of the House of Representatives (HoR) from Dang-2 on November 20 election, defeating CPN (UML) general secretary Shankar Pokhrel.

She was earlier elected as the HoR member under the PR system in 2013 and 2017.

Sharma was appointed as the Minister for General Administration in 2015 which she held for over a year.

Sharma's brief biography:

Born on 25 September 1969 at Masina of Gorahi in Dang district from father Giriraj Sharma and mother Parvati Sharma Paudyal, Rekha Sharma embarked on political journey in around 1985 as a school student when she joined the school unit committee of All Nepal Free Student Union-Revolutionary.

As a student she became district vice-chair of the student union and in 1992 she became the Dang district Chairperson of All Nepal Women's Association (Revolutionary) and two years later she became central members of the same organization.

In 1995, Rekha Sharma also became the central member of the Young Communist League (YCL) and in 1997, when the Maoist's People's War had already started, she led the All Nepal Women's Association (Revolutionary), as its chairperson for four years.

Sharma was elected as the central committee member of the then rebel CPN (Maoist) in 2000 and was given the responsibility of the in-charge of the Kathmandu Valley bureau.

As the Kathmandu Valley in-charge of the CPN (Maoist) which then was in armed rebellion against the state, Sharma was arrested along with her husband Krishna Dhwaj Khadka from Chahabil in Kathmandu in March 2001. She was detained at the Rajdal battalion of the Nepali Army in Lalitpur and then at the NA barrack in Pokhara where she said she suffered torture to force her leave the party and provide information about the leaders in the insurgency.

Sharma and her husband got released from the custody as per the ceasefire agreement between the government and the CPN (Maoist) in 2002 when the first ever peace dialogue between the government and the Maoist was also held.

Sharma's journey to parliament started in 2013 when she became a member of the House of Representatives representing CPN (Maoist Center) under the Proportional Representation (PR) system. She also became HoR member in 2017 under the same category.

Sharma was whip of the parliamentary party leader of the CPN (Maoist Center) in 2017. Sharma also worked actively as members of thematic committees of the parliament for formulating policies and programmes.

She was minister for General Administration in 2015 for a year.

Presently, Sharma is also a member of the standing committee of the CPN (Maoist Center).