After hitting headlines with his announcement of contesting the next general elections in India with a new party, Indian yoga guru Swami Ramdev is now set to open a yoga ashram in Nepal soon. In 2007, Ramdev's first yoga camp in Kathmandu ran into trouble after alleged opposition by the Maoists. Nepal's Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and President Ram Baran Yadav are Ramdev enthusiasts. When the president recently went to India on his first official visit, he made a trip to the Haridwar yoga ashram.

The yoga teacher with millions of followers worldwide is arriving in Kathmandu March 26 to kick off a five-day yoga camp in the capital from the next day. During his visit, Ramdev, known by his trade-mark saffron clothes and flowing black beard and hair, will also inaugurate a yoga ashram in Kathmandu, modelled on his Divya Yoga Mandir, located in the pilgrim city of Haridwar in India.

Nepal's communist government last month agreed to give land to the Indian guru at a subsidised rate for the yoga centre that will also house a diagnostic centre propagating ayurvedic medicines manufactured from Himalayan herbs, and an old-age home.

Ramdev has also sought land in other districts like Dang, Lamjung, Syangja, Chitwan, Dhanusha, Bara and Parsa. Four years ago, his Patanjali Ayurveda Kendra registered with the Nepal government to sell ayurvedic medicinal products in the country.

Currently, it has 16 ayurvedic treatment centres in Nepal, of which four are located in the capital itself.

Ramdev, born Ramkishan Yadav, enjoys wide popularity in Nepal. Yoga enthusiasts wake up in the morning to watch the TV channels airing his yoga demonstrations and practise on their own.

Shops selling fruit juices in Nepal now also sell the juice of the vegetable gourd, after Ramdev popularised it as a health drink.