Koirala (top) Gyanendra: Future bleak

Kathmandu, March 12: In a dramatic turn of events, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today said that King Gyanendra should voluntarily step down to give a new direction to Nepal politics.

Koirala has been among the few mainstream leaders in favour of retaining the unpopular monarchy in some form, possibly ceremonial.

Addressing a news conference at his residence in the eastern town of Biratnagar this morning, Koirala said Gyanendra himself had cleared the way for a republican set-up as his controversial Democracy Day address had given hope to elements engaged in “destabilising” the nation. According to Koirala, the king had misinterpreted his call for allowing “space for all”.

“If the king and crown prince are willing to give up their throne by their own volition, a new environment can still be created,” he said without elaborating.

In the past, 85-year-old Koirala had said the monarch, traditionally considered by many Nepalis as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, should have a ceremonial role in the devoutly religious nation’s politics. King Gyanendra has been stripped virtually of all his powers since he was forced to step down last year.

The government and Maoists, who signed a peace deal ending a decade-old civil war against the monarchy, agreed in November that the Constituent Assembly would decide the future of monarchy.

Terai strike off

After paralysing the Terai plains and cutting off supplies to Kathmandu for more than a week, the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum today called of its general strike.