The man from the Chand cabinet who brought the Maoists to the negotiating table, Narayan Singh Pun, spoke in London this week at a lecture organised by the Britain-Nepal Academic Council. Asked if democracy had failed in Nepal, Pun answered: It is not democracy that has failed but the leaders who have failed to rise above party interests. Pun pledged that as leader of the Samata Party, he would work to bring the necessary changes to make democracy work, as prime minister if necessary. He blamed the government for a lack of sincerity in taking the talks forward.