Sher Bahadur Deuba, who was elected as the President of the Nepali Congress twice, has been the Prime Minister five times and has taken over the reins of the country. The Congress has a long list of leaders and activists who have spent many years in prison. There is no shortage of leaders in the Congress who have spent more years in prison than Deuba, who are hardworking and capable.

Deuba even split the Nepali Congress once and started a new party. His contemporaries are satisfied that he was able to become a minister. Among his contemporaries, Ram Chandra Poudel finally became the president with Deuba's support. However, his desire to become the prime minister once was not fulfilled even after 16 votes in parliament.

Deuba not only remained in power continuously after the change in 2046, but also got the opportunity to become the prime minister five times. In 2048, Girija Prasad Koirala gave him the responsibility of home minister in his council of ministers. After that, being elected unopposed as the leader of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party paved the way for him to become the prime minister five times. Leaving behind his contemporaries, senior and struggling leaders, he got the opportunity to become the unopposed leader of the parliamentary party from the party on Mangsir 16, 2051. From that time on, he got the opportunity to move forward by accumulating power.

Girija Prasad had decided to go for the mid-term elections despite the Congress having a comfortable majority in the House of Representatives with the ambition of a fresh mandate. But in the mid-term elections held on 29 Kartik 2051, the Congress was out of power. UML won 88 seats in the elections and became the largest party. Congress had won 83 seats. As the largest party, UML would form the government and Congress would be in the opposition.

After the Congress decided not to go to power, the then outgoing Prime Minister Girija Prasad did not want to become the leader of the parliamentary party. More than 40 MPs had suggested Koirala to become the leader of the parliamentary party. But after Koirala showed reluctance, many people wanted to become the leader of the parliamentary party. Deuba, Ramchandra Poudel, Shailaja Acharya, Govindaraj Joshi, Chiranjeevi Wagle, Dhundiraj Shastri were claiming the party leader's post.

Ramchandra and Shailaja had taken the most stand for the party leader. Another strong candidate was Shastri. But top leaders including party president Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and leader Girija Prasad Koirala had pressured all but one of them to withdraw their candidacies. Initially, Wagle, KC and Joshi had withdrawn their names. After Shastri, who was said to be a strong candidate, withdrew his name, the situation turned towards a stalemate. By the end, all but Deuba and Ramchandra, who were claiming the party leader's post, had withdrawn their candidacies. In the end, it was down to just Paudel and Deuba. But after Poudel also withdrew his candidacy under pressure from the leaders, Deuba was unanimously elected as the party leader.

Bal Bahadur KC, the then MP who had 'lobbied' Sher Bahadur Deuba to make him the leader of the parliamentary party, recalls, 'At that time, Ramchandra and Shailaja did not dare. Sher Bahadur knew how to seize opportunities. But since they had to go against Girija Prasad, it was understandable that Ramchandra and Shailaja did not dare.' According to KC, Girija Prasad was then forced by KC, Wagle and Pradeep Giri to make a commitment to making Sher Bahadur the leader of the parliamentary party.

Leader Shailaja had responded by withdrawing her candidacy under pressure from the top leaders. This also showed that the leaders wanted to make Deuba the leader of the party. After being elected as the leader of the parliamentary party, Chairman Krishna Prasad congratulated Deuba and suggested that he work towards strengthening democracy by improving his impartiality and competence. He had said, ‘The Congress is not in a big minority, if the UML cannot run the government, the king should call us.’ Born in 2003, Deuba was elected as the leader of the Congress parliamentary party at the age of 49. His election was commented on as the formal establishment of the generation that entered politics after 2017 in the Congress.

After Deuba became the leader of the party, there was a positive response that the generational transition had begun in the Congress party. Some leaders and activists of the party were worried that the leadership would weaken.

After becoming the leader of the parliamentary party, when Deuba got the opportunity to become the Prime Minister for the first time on Bhadra 27, 2052, by overthrowing the Manmohan Adhikari-led government, it was a very important ‘turning point’ in his political life. According to experts, after the 2048 election, Girija Prasad had chosen Ramchandra, Deuba and Shailaja as ministers. At that time, Deuba had chosen the Home Ministry, Ramchandra the Local Development Ministry and Shailaja the Agriculture Ministry. Choosing the Home Ministry, being elected the leader of the parliamentary party in 2051 and becoming the Prime Minister for the first time in 2052 opened the door for Deuba to become the Prime Minister five times and the party president twice, according to those close to him.

‘If anyone else had been elected as the leader of the parliamentary party at that time, he would probably not have been able to accumulate power and build his current ‘profile’,’ said a former Congress leader. ‘He split the party, returned and became the president of the same party twice. Therefore, getting the opportunity to become the leader of the parliamentary party is also a ‘turning point’ in his political life.’