Nepal Maoists warns of serious consequence if PM refuses to step down

Kathmandu, June 1 : UCPN (Maoist) Vice-Chairman Dr Baburam Bhattarai on Tuesday said there will be serious consequences if Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal doesn't resign by Wednesday as agreed.

Nepalnews quoted Bhattarai as, saying that as per the agreement, there is one more day left for the Prime Minister to resign in order to clear the path for a national consensus government.

It had been agreed during the tri-partite meeting between the Maoists, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML last Friday that Prime Minister will resign within five days if Maoists agree on the extension of Constituent Assembly (CA)'s tenure.

UCPN (Maoist) has also urged various fringe parties represented in the Constituent Assembly to put pressure on the Prime Minister to step down.

Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda apprised the fringe parties of both the written and the verbal agreements among parties claiming there had been an agreement to have the PM resign by tomorrow.

UCPN (Maoist) sought support of the fringe parties after the three largest parties in the Constituent Assembly started describing Friday night's agreement in their own ways.

Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Communications Shankher Pokhrel has claimed that Madhav Kumar did not resign due to uncertainty about the implementation of the three-point agreement.

Pokhrel, who is also the government spokesperson, made it clear that the Prime Minister would tender his resignation at the earliest if the parties expressed commitment on the implementation of the agreement.

He also urged the parties to focus on the peace and statute drafting by putting aside their stand.