If the government claims that it has executive powers, then this must be proven. That is why we are demanding the annulment of the amended regulation for the functioning of the ministers' council.

If what we heard is true, the king himself wants to forget the past and begin afresh. In that case, we will have to go back to the day before King Gyanendra took over, 3 October 2002. The regulation was amended after the appointment of Lokendra Bahadur Chand and remained unchanged during the tenure of Surya Bahadur Thapa, who supposedly had executive powers, just like the new Deuba government. If that is true, there should be no difficulty in getting rid of the amended regulation. That is our primary demand. If it is not met, we will not join the government.

Deuba's Nepali Congress (Democratic) protested the royal takeover. It is also the country's third biggest party. Since Deuba himself was sacked from the post of prime minister, he had the support of different parties. Therefore we must take his reinstatement positively. Our demand for a constituent assembly is not something new. We already expressed our willingness for democratic alternatives but we never dismissed that central idea. The reason we are stressing it now is for national consensus. A constituent assembly could guide the country out of the present crisis and solve the Maoist insurgency.

We left the street demonstrations but that does not mean that we have nothing to do: we will continue mobilising people, organising meetings, seminars and campaigns to better democracy and usher in peace. No one can stop us because the CPN (UML) is based on the people-we will never be alone.

On the basis of issues, we are still ready to work together with other parties. Our experience has shown that in the long run, some co-workers tire and aim for smaller targets but we plan to reach the summit of Everest. We will do it.