New Delhi, June 1:

Nepali Congress leader Dr Shekhar Koirala today said Prachanda will have to bow before the people’s wishes any day like the former king had to.

Dr Koirala said no one was more powerful than the people.

He said this while addressing a programme organised to mark the ushering in of a republic in Nepal.

Dr Koirala said the Maoists were running a disinformation campaign about the electoral defeat of the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML. “We didn’t lose. The combined votes of NC and UML come to 4,500,000. How can then anyone claim that we did not get the popular mandate? Without NC and UML the Maoists cannot take the republican agenda any further,” said Dr Koirala.

He also warned that his party would not join the government if the Maoists did not agree to its seven-point proposal. “The UML also will refrain from joining the government if the Maoists kept sticking to their guns,” he added.