Maoists say they will take up arms if elections are put off again

“The cremation of the institution of monarchy will be done with the holding of the Constituent Assembly polls,” CPN-Maoist’s second in command Baburam Bhattarai said at a joint election rally in the eastern Nepal town of Biratnagar.

“But the royalists are trying to use some legitimate demands of the Terai as a means to disrupt the polls. If the Madhesi people danced to their tune and disrupted the polls, the achievements they have made so far through democratic movement would slip away from their hands,” he said.

The Maoist leader said monarchy was already “dead” with parliament passing resolution declaring the country a republic, subject to ratification by the Constituent Assembly.

“Maoists have locked up their arms but they are still capable to make bombs and use arms in case the polls are sabotaged,” he said referring to the guerrilla army that was confined to cantonments under UN supervision following the 2006 peace deal.

The Samyukta Madhesi Morcha and Madhesh Terai Loktantrik Party have announced protest programmes in southern Nepal from Jan 23 claiming that the seven-party unity Government was ignoring their demands.