Leaders of the opposition parties including Nepali Congress and CPN-UML have warned of a stern protest movement to remove Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, accusing the government of moving ahead in unilateral and unconstitutional way.

Addressing an a mass meeting at Khula Manch (open air theater) in Kathmandu on Friday, the leaders spent most of their time in criticising the UCPN (Maoist) and the government.

Nepali Congress president Sushil Koirala accused the Maoists of showing despotic manners by taking unilateral decisions. He said that his party would react in a decent manner as a responsible political party against the activities of the Maoist party.

Likewise, CPN-UML chairman Jhala Nath Khanal said the aspirations of Nepali people to draft new constitution were shattered due to the ambition of the Maoist party to impose autocratic rule. He said election cannot be held in the current scenario.

NC vice president Ram Chandra Poudel accused UCPN (Maoist) of dissolving the Constituent Assembly (CA) to remain in power. Poudel also said that the Maoist leaders intentionally dissolved the CA although there were possibilities of resolving disputed issues before the expiry of the CA.

On the occasion, UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal said the CA's dissolution was the result of the Maoist party's intention to capture power.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) chairman Pashupati Shumsher Rana said they would fail Maoist party's 'dream' to capture state power and appealed for broad national consensus.

Similarly, another RPP leader and former PM Lokendra Bahadur Chand said that the Maoist party was responsible for the current political impasse in the country.

Senior NC leader and former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba demanded PM Bhattarai's resignation to pave the way for national consensus government.

The mass meeting was organised by 26 political parties to protest the 'unilateral' announcement of fresh CA polls by the Maoist-led government and exert pressure on Prime Minister Bhattarai to step down. nepalnews.com

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