NEWSMAKER - "Fierce" ex-Maoist chief becomes first Nepal PM

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Two years ago, the chief of Nepal's former Maoist rebels was on the Himalayan nation's most wanted list with a price of more than $70,000 on his head.

But on Monday, Prachanda, who still goes by his nom de guerre meaning "fierce", was sworn in as Nepal's first prime minister, having jettisoned much of his Marxist rhetoric to embrace democracy and private investment.

Prachanda, 53, led an insurgency against the monarchy for more than a decade in the jungles of rugged Himalayan foothills.

After laying down its arms as part of a peace process, his Maoist party won 227 seats in the 601-member constituent assembly in an April election to become its biggest group.

That body, which also doubles as parliament, overwhelmingly voted to abolish the 239-year-old monarchy a month later, and is now expected to draft a constitution.

"We have come from a different background and this is a mandate the people have given to us to lead the country to peace," Prachanda said, soon after his party's surprise victory in the vote. "We'll honour this."

The bespectacled ex-rebel has come a long way since a teacher named him Pushpa Kamal, or Lotus Flower, for his mild manners.

Colleagues say Prachanda, a former agricultural science teacher, is a skilled organiser and breeds loyalty and discipline among his followers, but critics say he is self-centred and willing to dump even his closest colleagues.

And since emerging from the jungle to face television cameras, Prachanda has switched from revolutionary insurgent to politician and has dropped the language used by Marx and Mao.