Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990 TAG: 9004170006
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: KATMANDU, NEPAL LENGTH: Medium
A leader of the party, Ganesh Man Singh, met with Birendra and said the king indicated he would give up his wide powers. Singh said after the meeting that parliamentary elections would be held within a year.
Birendra approved Krishna Prasad Bhattarai as the new prime minister pending the vote, Singh said. Bhattarai is acting president of the Nepali Congress Party.
The events capped a day of political victories for the Nepali Congress Party and its ally, the seven-party United Left Front. They led nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations that began in February.
The palace press secretary was not available for comment.
Earlier Monday, Birendra dissolved the non-partisan national assembly and announced the resignation of the 10-day-old government of Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand, clearing the way for the new interim government.
The concessions followed the king's decision April 8 to lift the 29-year-old ban on political parties in an effort to appease the pro-democracy movement, which included violent clashes between protesters and police.
Bhattarai, 65, told reporters he will present the names of the mem Bhattarai bers of his government to the king today.
A Nepali Congress statement said Birendra first asked Singh to head the government, but the 75-year-old leader refused, citing ill health.
Singh then suggested Bhattarai as the new government leader, and the United Left Front agreed, the statement said.
Bhattarai called his new job "a very, very challenging task for which I was not at all mentally prepared. Still I am glad that my friends and comrades have reposed so much . . . confidence in me for which I am thankful to them all."
"I still do not know to what extent I shall be able to do something for all those who have given their lives for the cause of democracy," he said.
Bhattarai was the speaker of the Nepalese parliament during the nation's only previous experience with Western-style democracy from 1959-60.
Birendra's father, King Mahendra, dissolved the government led by the Nepali Congress in December 1960, accusing it of corruption and incompetence. Political parties were banned shortly afterward.
Singh later said Birendra expressed his inclination toward changing the country to a constitutional monarchy. Under the present system all executive, legislative and judicial powers are in the king's hands.
The Nepali Congress and the United Left Front, who launched their movement Feb. 18, demanded multiparty elections, an interim government headed by an opposition leader, the dissolution of the national assembly and a new constitution.
by CNB