Surkhet, February 19:

Former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress-Democratic (NC-D) president Sher Bahadur Deuba today challenged the king to form a new party if he wants to join politics.

Addressing a gathering organised by the Surkhet chapter of NC-D at Koldanda, Deuba said: “ Though people have deprived the King of all his royal rights, he is forgetting his limits and

delivering political speeches. If he really wants to join politics, he can form a party and compete in the election.”

Terming the King’s message delivered on the occasion of the Democracy Day “political ambition”, Deuba said: “A king who could not hold elections during his 15-month rule sacked me, saying that I could not hold elections in six months.”

“The King is trying to disrupt the peace process in the country,” Deuba said, adding: “It is the Congress which brought back king Tribhuvan when he was sheltering in Delhi and enthroned him in 2007 BS. The descendants of Tribhuvan are trying to harm Congress and democracy now.”

A central member of the Nepali Congress-Democratic, Dr Minendra Rijal, said, “The Nepali people have determined the status of the King through Jana Andolan II.”

“The message of King is a sinister attempt to impose autocracy again in the country,” Dr

Rijal said, adding, “Nepali people should not support monarchy now.”

Tarun Dal chairperson Bal Krishna Khand also addressed the function.