He dedicated more than six decades of his life in the struggle for democracy. He was popularly known as Kisunji, a saint leader and KP in Nepali political community.
Bhattarai was elected as Member of Parliament for the first time from Parsa constituency-1 in 2056 BS. He was elected the Prime Minister for the second time by the House of Representatives on Jeth 13, 2056 BS. He was the leader of the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party at that time.
He began his political career as the central member of the Nepali Rastriya Congress in 1947. He became the president of the Nepali Congress for a total 19 years as the acting and elected president of the party.
Bhattarai was elected the first Speaker of the then Parliament after the Nepali Congress won the parliamentary elections of 2015 BS with a two-thirds majority votes. He was 36 years old when he was elected the Speaker.
Bhattarai was born to Mr Sankata Prasad Bhattarai and mother Lalita Devi in Benaras, India in 1924. Bhattarai’s father was living in exile in Benares to escape the persecution by the then Rana regime.
A Bachelors Degree-holder in Economics, Bhattarai had also participated in the Indian independence movement by becoming associated with the Indian National Congress.
He had also led the armed revolution for capturing the eastern region in the struggle against the autocratic Rana regime in 2007 BS. He spent more than 14 years in jail in course of struggle for restoration of democracy.
The late Bhattarai was also the first president of the Nepal Journalists’ Association. He visited the then Soviet Union and the United Kingdom in that capacity.
In his later years, Bhattarai was drawn towards spiritualism and practiced yoga, meditation and recited the Gita regularly.
He also published a memoir of political history entitled ‘Mero Ma’ on his 87th birthday on January 1.
He was a jovial person and had a good sense of humour.