Education minister and UCPN (Maoist) spokesperson Dina Nath Sharma Wednesday said the President cannot sack the Prime Minister, as suggested by leaders of some opposition parties.

"The President cannot sack the Prime Minister. All he can do is to issue a call for consensus," he said while speaking at the Reporters Club, adding, "We have not anticipated a presidential coup."

"Doing so would invite a disaster," he warned, defending Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai's statement that he would not resign until there's there is an elected representative body. Repeating PM Bhattarai's words, Sharma said, "There will be no resignation just because there are slogans in the streets. Options must be ready [if he is to resign]."

Sharma also claimed that party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal was not opposed to the views of the Prime Minister regarding his resignation.

"What the Prime Minister said at the airport is the bottomline of our party. Nobody in our party is opposed to it," said he. nepalnews.com