Nepal Oppn rejects King's offer

Nepali Congress President GP Koirala said that the King did not address the problem of the nation.

Nepal's biggest opposition leader rejected on Friday an offer by King Gyanendra to hold national elections and unity talks to defuse a mass campaign against his absolute rule.

HT Image

"He did not address the problem of the nation, he should have done that," Girija Prasad Koirala, president of the Nepali Congress, the largest political party, said in an interview.

Koirala was speaking hours after the monarch, in a message to the nation on its Hindu new year, reaffirmed a commitment to hold national elections, without mentioning dates, and asked parties to join.