Oli was born in Jhapa district on February 23, 1952, in a humble family. Co-incidentally, Monday, when the result of the election for the top UML post will be out, will be Oli’s 57th birthday.

He joined the communist movement way back in 1970 and took part in the Jhapa movement and was imprisoned for 14 years on charges of being involved in violent movement. After being released from the jail in 1986, Oli became the central committee member of the then Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Lennist) led by C P Mainali, the main architect of the Jhapa Revolt. Oli has remained a standing committee member of the CPN-UML since 1993 and he claims himself to be the true interpreter of the party’s People’s Multi-party Democracy, propounded by later general secretary Madan Kumar Bhandari. He became Home Minister during the UML’s nine-month minority government in 1994. He won all parliamentary elections held in 1991, 1994 and 1999.

Oli was the deputy prime minister and foreign minister in the coalition government led by NC leader G P Koirala until the elections of the Constituent Assembly in April 2008. Oli lost the CA polls to his Maoist rival from Jhapa. Childless Oli is married to Radhika Shakya and lives in

Balkot, Bhaktapur. Oli is highly critical of the Maoists’ ideology and their violent politics. — HNS