KATHMANDU: Former Minister Lokendra Bista, staunch support and leader of the then Maoist party, concedes those disgusting times when was looked down upon by his senior leaders Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai.

Taking to social media, former minister Bista describes how he was criticized by Prachanda and Dr Bhattarai in the VIP room at the Pokhara Airport. That very moment, as he says, was humiliating when the two senior party leaders nitpicked about Bista’s old-fashioned outfit, particularly my jacket.

“I had no option than to listen with my heads bowed down,” Bista narrates the moment explaining the compulsion of his commitment towards the party ideology to lead a simple life.

“I was financially not strong enough to have expensive outfit as we were still in the initial phase of the peace process,” he has said.

He says he did not want to deviate from the party’s ideology, which he was adopted since he joined the communist movement in 2037 BS.

Bista left the party in 2074 BS and is currently into his own agriculture business.