Opposition demands veto power on choice of PM
Nepal's opposition demanded the right to choose the PM as King Gyanendra meets leaders in hopes of ending a month of noisy protests against his pro-royal government.
Nepal's opposition demanded the right to choose the prime minister as King Gyanendra meets leaders in hopes of ending a month of noisy protests against his pro-royal government.
"Nothing will change our determination and no one appointed prime minister without our approval will be acceptable to us," communist leader Madhav Kumar Nepal told an opposition rally of more than 20,000 people in Lalitpur on the Kathmandu outskirts.
"Nothing will break our five-party alliance," said Nepal, who was last year proposed as the opposition's candidate for prime minister.
The king infuriated the political establishment in October 2002 when he sacked elected prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for alleged incompetence and appointed a cabinet of staunch royalists.
In the latest protests, more than 30 Deuba supporters were hospitalised after police used batons to disperse their protest in Kathmandu, party officials said. Police had no immediate comment.
The government has restricted demonstrations saying they may be infiltrated by Maoist rebels waging a violent campaign in the countryside to overthrow the monarchy.
King Gyanendra has met individually with an array of political leaders to broker an end to the demonstrations.