KATHMANDU, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Nepal's first -- and only -- woman deputy prime minister Shailaja Acharya passed away Friday morning after battling Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia.

    The 65-year-old, who was a member of the Nepali Congress (NC) party that had led several pro-democracy protests in Nepal, had been admitted to the Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu Wednesday after her condition deteriorated and died in early morning on Friday, the hospital told the media.

    Acharya, the niece of Nepal's first elected prime minister B.P.Koirala and of the NC president G.P. Koirala, was plunged into politics headfirst in 1961 when she, along with two other students, showed black flags when the then king Mahendra and was jailed for three and a half years.

    Acharya won elections from her home constituency Morang in 1991in eastern Nepal and began her ascent to power as agriculture minister.

    Later, she became water resources minister as well as deputy prime minister in 1997.

    She was the only woman politician in Nepal to have risen so far.

    However, Acharya's bid to become president of her party failed and she was sidelined by the party.

    In 2007, it had seemed her career was reviving when her name was proposed for the post of ambassador to India, but she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and the appointment was subsequently stopped.