Why do you call the parties' decision to welcome the reinstatement of parliament a betrayal?
Baburam Bhattarai: It is a betrayal of the movement. When we signed the 12-point agreement, we agreed that none of the sides (the parties and the Maoists) would hold talks with the king or reach an agreement with him. But the parties talked to the king by themselves, thus violating the agreement. The minimum meeting point of the 12-point agreement was election for the constituent assembly, but the parties went for the reinstatement of the parliament.

The 12-point agreement had clearly stated that the power of the movement would reinstate the parliament through which an all party government would be formed and that in turn would hold talks with the Maoists to move toward the constituent assembly. That was the demand of the seven parties who had conducted this movement and you had only supported it. So, how was that a betrayal?
The first thing to be made clear is that this movement was not led by the seven parties. We had fears that the demonstrators would be called terrorists if we had called it a joint movement. Therefore, we had agreed that the parties would call for the movement and we would support it. As per the parties' demand for the reinstatement of the parliament, we had expressed our disagreement just when the 12-point agreement was signed. We had then said that we need to proceed towards constituent assembly through political conference and an interim government.

If it was a joint movement of the parties and your party, why have people been bringing out victory rallies in the streets? Shouldn't they have intensified the anti-king agitation?
The rallies you are talking about actually went to surround the place where the leaders of the parties were holding a meeting. They had then demanded that the movement had to be continued until the election for the constituent assembly.

The parties have been saying that they would go for the election of constituent assembly by the means of dialogue and agreement and the same has been stated in the 12-point agreement as well. Even after reassurances by the parties in that regard, would you create any obstacle or not?
It is not about creating obstacles. What we have been saying is that it is still not clear under which law or article of the constitution the king reinstated parliament. Reinstatement through a royal announcement means the parliament now is equal to the royal privy council (Raj Sabha).

But it was you who had been saying that the present national crisis is not a constitutional problem but a political one and therefore it should be solved politically. And now that they are trying to solve it through politics, you are coming up with constitutional objections.

Exactly, what we have been saying is there no constitutional way now. But they took the way of the parliament which was not a constitutional course but a political one.

You seem to be in the habit of talking negative all the time if things don\'t go your way. When the Sher Bahadur Deuba government wanted to hold talks with you, your party said it would not hold talks with a puppet government and that it would hold talks with the king directly. When the king took direct power, you backtracked and said you would talk to the parties only. And now that the parties have come to power, you are still having problems.
The main point here is the monarchy should come to an end and there should be the establishment of republic. Our saying has always remained the same.

See, you just contradicted yourself again. Your party and leaders have been saying that they would accept any result of constituent assembly even if that means active monarchy. Your Chairman Prachanda had said that and now you are saying that you have no other goal than the end of monarchy.
What our chairman had said and what our party's policy has been is that we would in principle agree to the result of the constituent assembly. But we have not said that we would accept monarchy. Agreeing to the result of constituent assembly does not translate into acceptance of monarchy.

When the parties have been saying that they would go for the election of constituent assembly, why have you been creating obstacles by announcing blockades against the capital and district headquarters?
We have not said that we would obstruct the road to Parliament. They (the parties) can go to Singha Darbar, we will only create blockades in highways.

That means you will continue your military activities.
They are being continued now.

And that means you will carry on fighting with the army under the parties.
As long as there is no forward looking political outlet and people's democracy, we will be in war, and everyone is clear about it.