Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba lashed out at reporters during a press conference at his Budanilkantha residence on Saturday, the day after his release. "I warned you that a time would come when there would be censorship but you didn't listen did you?" said the visibly angry Deuba. "Today I am deliberately toning down my words so it will be possible for you to publish them."

Asked to compare the current state of emergency with that during his tenure (in 2003) Deuba replied, "In my time, you criticised me, wrote nonsense against me, blasted me, can you do that now? All you can report is jindabad this and jindabad that," Adding, "I am a person who wants the best for monarchy. I want democracy to work with monarchy. But you always called me a palace puppet, didn't you say such nonsensical things?" As Deuba got more and more worked up, his wife Arzu, Prakash Sharan Mahat and Minendra Rijal had to calm him down. But Deuba went on to accuse the press of politically motivated criticism against him. He said he told the king: "I am not the problem, why should I resign?"

Deuba said he had given the Royal Nepali Army everything it wanted. "What the army said, I did, I increased the defence budget, bought four helicopters, recruited 11,000 soldiers. And the king does this after the army had been strengthened and if it hadn't been strengthened, Maoist violence would have escalated," he said. As the journalists were leaving Deuba said: "Publish what I've said and I'll consider you all bahadurs."