Popularly known as Prachanda ('fierce'), Pushpa Kamal Dahal, once a Maoist guerrilla who fought a bloody decade-long insurgency against the Hindu monarchy to turn his country into a democratic republic, is Nepal's new prime minister. Moustached, bespectacled and with a slight paunch, 68-year-old Prachanda was appointed as the new premier by President Bidya Devi Bhandari after he surprisingly walked away from the five-party ruling alliance led by the Nepali Congress and staked a claim for the premier's post before the deadline set by the president expired on Sunday.