Nepal's main opposition parties on Sunday piled pressure on caretaker Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai to step down, saying his resignation is a precondition to end the present political stalemate.
Former Prime Minister and senior leader of CPN-UML Madhav Kumar Nepal has said "political consensus was not possible until Caretaker Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai stepped down."
"A way out is not possible without political consensus and resignation of Bhattarai is a precondition for consensus," he said. He asked Bhattarai to step down immediately to pave the way for consensus.
Nepal also termed the announcement of the November 22 elections of the Constituent Assembly (CA) as irrelevant.
"The CA election was announced unilaterally which displays the Maoists' greed for power," he accused. In a separate context, he stated that formation of the federal states based on ethnicity was not acceptable to CPN-UML.