Nepal's ex-PM announces rival new party

Nepal's former Maoist prime minister Baburam Bhattarai announced a new political party yesterday in an attempt to attract legions of voters disillusioned with mainstream leaders.

Bhattarai, prime minister from August 2011 to March 2013, played a key role in bringing the Maoists into the political mainstream after the end of their decade-long insurgency in 2006. But Bhattarai quit the main Maoist party last September over the adoption of Nepal's controversial new constitution, and after years of playing second fiddle to Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda.