Prachanda accuses opponents of horse trading

Nepal Maoist chief and caretaker Prime Minister Prachanda on Saturday accused his opponents of trying to indulge in horse trading to "buy" support at the behest of foreign power centres, as political parties attempted to put together a coalition government.

Prachanda, whose move to sack the Army chief plunged the country into a political crisis, said "old parties" are trying to pay out "tens of millions of rupees" to gain a majority in the Constituent Assembly.

"I just heard from a leader of a party that tens of millions of rupees is being spent to buy CA members. The parties have started engaging in the same old game," he said.

Prachanda, who earlier pointed fingers at India and the US, blaming them for interfering in Nepal's internal affairs, today claimed that old parties were trying to buy MPs at the behest of foreign power centres, Nepal News said.

Addressing a programme organised by families of state-disappeared persons here, he said his resignation was a salvo against foreign intervention and political betrayers and warned of strong protest movement against "brokers and betrayers", the paper said.

'Prachanda' resigned as premier after his decision to sack army chief Rukmangad Katawal was blocked by President President Ram Baran Yadav, who set today's deadline for the parties to cobble up a coalition.