By Pratibha Tuladhar, dpa =
Kathmandu (dpa) - Maoist leader, Baburam Bhattarai, 57, was sworn in Monday as Nepal's 35th prime minister.
Born on June 18, 1954, to a family of farmers in a village in the central hills of Gorkha district, Bhattarai attended a missionary school two-hours' walk from his home while also tending to his father's goats.
He went on to become the highest-scoring student in the national School Leaving Certificate exams in 1970, an unexpected result from a village-educated student. He took his doctorate degree in regional planning from India's Jawaharlal Nehru University.
He became involved in politics in 1977 as a student in India. In 1981, he joined the Communist Party of Nepal and became active in the movement against the monarchy-run Panchayat system, which had banned all political parties.
Bhattarai, who is currently the vice chairman of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M), played a pivotal role in the rise of the Maoist movement in Nepal.
He remained underground during the 10 years of the Maoist insurgency from 1996 to 2006 and was initially seen as the spearhead of the movement. He led the Maoist rebel peace talks team with the government in 2003.
A peace deal was signed between the government and the Maoists in 2006, ended the insurgency in which over 16,000 people were killed.
In the 2008 Constituent Assembly election, Bhattarai was elected for Gorkha district with 82 per cent of the vote. Opinion polls show him to be one of the most popular contemporary politicians nationwide.
He has earned credibility for his ability to hold his ground, even within his party, which has suspended him in the past for differences of opinion with its chairman, Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Bhattarai served as the finance minister in the Maoist government in 2008, which lasted for nine months. He is regarded as the most successful of finance ministers for the discipline he brought to revenue administration.
He was elected prime minister Sunday, after the fourth-largest bloc in parliament, the parties from the central plains, or Madhes, voted for him along with smaller parties, giving him the required two-thirds majority.
As the fifth elected communist leader of the country, Bhattarai replaces Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist-Leninist (UML) leader Jhalanath Khanal, who stepped down on August 14 to make way for a unity government.
"Completion of the peace process and constitution writing are my responsibilities, and I will work at fulfilling them," Bhattarai said after he was elected.
His wife Hisila Yami is an elected member to the Constituent Assembly and a central committee member of the UCPN-M. His daughter Manusi Bhattarai is a popular student leader.
On Monday, Bhattarai was expected to form the cabinet. The cabinet was likely to have a significant participation of the Madhes-based parties.
The Maoists agreed to give them some major portfolios in the cabinet in exchange for their support in Sunday's election.
"This is a positive development and it offers a one last chance of completing the peace process and writing the constitution, which lies in the heart of the 2006 peace deal," said Prashant Jha, political analyst and writer for the Indian daily, The Hindu.
"If the Maoists had been kept out yesterday, it would have been more difficult to get them to agree to move on."
Taking leadership of the government days ahead of the deadline to write a draft constitution is a tall order. Political factions are deadlocked over several issues, including the fate of former guerrillas.
The 19,000 Maoist combatants have been confined to seven camps across Nepal since the end of the conflict.
"There are many challenges as the two main political forces [Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist and Nepali Congress] are in the opposition, and how he manages to maintain a consensus will be his biggest challenge," Jha said.
"To maintain a balance within the party and with the opposition will be the biggest test of his political management skills."
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