Political parties against Maoists' proposal to include royalists

Kathmandu, Dec 8 (UNI) Major political parties today said the statement of Maoist leader Prachanda to include royalists in the name of ''nationalism'' was unacceptable.

''The guilty of the people's movement cannot be exonerated in the name of nationalism,'' local media quoted CPN (UML) General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal as saying in Kathmandu.

''Though unity is needed to stop those who are trying to divide the nation, the parties should not commit a mistake by forgiving the guilty of the people's movement,'' he said.

Prachanda had sought an alliance with the nationalists to ensure that the royalists ''do not derail the ongoing peace process'', he said.

Meanwhile, Kantipur quoted Maoist second-in-command Baburam Bhattarai as saying: ''A new Nepal cannot be materialised with the unity between the Maoists and earstwhile parliamentary democratic and royalist forces.'' ''A new national unity is needed among yesterday's Parliamentary democratic, royalist, and the revolutionary forces for forward-looking restructuring of the society and socio-economic transformation of the country,'' Dr Bhattarai said.

UNI