Kathmandu: Having failed to get their leader elected as Nepal's new Prime Minister, the Maoists on Monday threatened to launch a People's Revolution to attain power as media reports said that party strongman Prachanda may not run for the 8th round of elections.
"Maoists have been prevented from forming a government on one or other pretexts," hardline Maoist leader Mohan Vaidya Kiranthere claimed as he declared that they had no option left other than launching People's Revolution to capture power.
Vaidya also attacked India for interfering in Nepal's internal affairs, claiming political parties were dancing to the tunes of foreign powers.
His fresh forays against New Delhi came as the Maoists are facing allegations of arranging funds from China to buy lawmakers in a scandal dubbed as 'Chinagate'.
The warning comes at a time when media reports said that Maoists may withdraw from the prime ministerial race as both Nepali Congress and Maoist candidates have been rejected by the Parliament seven times during the trial of strength.
The next round of elections to elect the new Prime Minister is scheduled on September 26. The party will start a month-long agitation programme starting from September 17 which will include publicity campaign, public meetings and protest shows, Vaidya said at an interaction programme organised by Reporters' Club Nepal here.
The month-long protest shows will be peaceful but it will be preparatory to our launching a People's Revolution, he warned. He held the CPN-UML's neutrality responsible for the current deadlock in the country and urged the party to side either with Maoists or Nepali Congress to end the stalemate.
Meanwhile, Maoist spokesman Dinanath Sharma said that consultations would be held with other political parties before the next round of election to make sure that the next round of polling proves decisive.
The party has not yet decided about withdrawing the candidacy in the prime ministerial run-off, he clarified. "But we don't want to continue this never ending process of election any more," he told PTI. "We will chalk out our strategy after holding consultation with those political parties who have voted for us," he added. PTI
