Who was Krishna Prasad Bhattarai? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Бхаттараи, Кришна Прасад

Died At Age: 86

Family:

father: Sankata Pd. Bhattarai

mother: Lalita Devi

Prime Ministers Political Leaders

Died on: March 4, 2011

place of death: Kathmandu, Nepal

City: Varanasi, India

Founder/Co-Founder: Co-founder of Nepali Congress

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Childhood & Early Life

Krishna Prasad Bhattarai was born on 24th December 1934 in Varanasi, India, to Sankata Pd. Bhattarai and Lalita Devi.

He earned a bachelor degree in economics and became a journalist.

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Career

Bhattarai started his career as a journalist. He was one of the few foreign journalists who interviewed Nikita Khrushchev, the General Secretary of Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Bhattarai became an active member of Nepalese politics after joining the movement aimed at ending the 104 years old regime of the Rana dynasty.

He was a founding member of the Nepali Congress Party that initiated an armed struggle to overthrow the Rana dynasty. He was in charge of the Congress Mukti Sena, fighting in Gorkha district.

This armed revolution of Nepali Congress was supported by many which included King Tribhuvan (who was in exile) and many Indian and Burmese socialists.

The struggle ended on February 18, 1951, with the end of the Rana dynasty. This day is celebrated as the democracy day in Nepal.

He became the Speaker of lower house of parliament in 1959 at the age of 36 but after the coup of 1960 he was held for eight years at the Sundarijal Military Detention Camp.

He was nominated as the officiating president of the NPC by then party Supremo BP Koirala on February 12, 1976. Later, he was elected as the President of NPC by the Eighth National Conference of the Nepali Congress held in January 1992.

He was made the Prime Minister of the interim government for a year after the Jana Andolan (People’s Movement) of 1990. After this movement, the 30 year old Panchayati government came to an end.

He was elected as the Prime Minister again from May 1999 to March 2000.

Personal Life & Legacy

Krishan Prasad Bhattarai hailed from a politically influential family of Gorkha district. His immediate and ancestor family, both come from Gorkha.

Bhattarai never married but he considered the six children of his brother as his own. None of his successors are related to the Nepalese politics, today.

One of the founders of the Nepali Congress, Bhattarai died at the age of 77, on 4 March, 2011 at the Norvic International Hospital, Kathmandu.

He was suffering from chronic bronchitis, chronic renal failure and congestive heart failure before his death.

Bhattarai Ashram in Nepal has been built in his honour.

Trivia

Bhattarai was held at the Sundarijal Military Detention Camp for eight years without trial after the coup of 1960.

Before taking his last breath, Bhattarai said that he would go on to live a hundred years. He was 86 when he died.

The news about his demise wasn’t released by the government for at least a day.

Krishna Prasad Bhattarai Biography