Baburam Bhattarai a sharp but soft-spoken man, recalls classmate

An alumnus of an architecture school in Chandigarh, Nepal's new Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai is remembered by his former classmate as a "soft-spoken, self-made" man who was "sharp and witty".

The 57-year-old Maoist ideologue studied at Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA) in Sector 10 between 1972-1977.

Recalling the days they spent together, Colonel Gurneek Singh said that he, Bhattarai and another Nepalese student Yogeshwar used to stay at Corbu hostel of the college.

"Bhattarai did not have any political background. He was soft-spoken, determined and clear in his thoughts and a straight-forward person. Academically, he was very good, he was brilliant in group discussions too.

"We also used to take active part in plays and other co-curricular activities," Singh, who spoke to Bhattarai today to congratulate him, said.

He described the Nepalese prime minister as a "self-made" man who was was "very warm, sharp and witty."

On his today's conversation with Bhattarai, Singh said, "He was happy to talk to me after a long time. I told him that he should come for the college's golden jubilee function, to which he said he will be very happy and honoured, but he will have to see if his schedule allows him to travel to India around that time.

"The PM also told me that he was very keen to visit India and meet the Indian leadership including his counterpart Manmohan Singh."