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Koirala asks Gyanendra to voluntarily abdicate

Ameet Dhakal

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on Sunday revealed that he has suggested to King Gyanendra that he and Crown Prince Paras voluntarily abdicate the throne before the Constituent Assembly election slated for late November.

Speaking to a group of Pakistani and Nepali journalists, Mr. Koirala also said that if they did not abdicate before the polls the Assembly would vote to end the 240-year-old monarchy. Mr. Koirala was of the opinion that if the two abdicated it was possible that the King's grandson Hridayendra, who is barely five years old, could be made king.

"I have already told the King that he and the Crown Prince are very unpopular. So it would be better if both of them abdicate before the polls for the sake of monarchy," Kishor Shrestha, Editor of Janasta Weekly quoted Mr. Koirala as saying.

The Prime Minister's remarks follow an amendment of the interim Constitution by the interim Parliament on Wednesday that gives sweeping powers to Parliament to remove the monarchy by two-thirds majority if the king was found conspiring against the polls.

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