Koirala offers Prachanda help

Kathmandu, Oct. 27: Former Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has offered to help Prime Minister Prachanda against "hardliners" of his party, who are in favour of abandoning a multi-party democracy system in favour of Communist rule in the country.

Mr Koirala, who has launched a national awareness campaign from the town of Biratnagar to oppose the Maoists’ atte-mpts to establish a "totalitarian rule," said Nep-ali Congress "could help Mr Prachanda if he seeks help".

"If Prachanda faces internal problems within the party, then we can help him get rid of it, if he seeks help," Mr Koirala said after announcing a national awareness campaign from Bira-tnagar to oppose the Maoists’ attempts to establish "totalitarian rule".

Mr Prachanda is facing rift within the CPN-Maoist party, with a section led by Mr Mohan Vaidya "Kiran" favouring establishment of a single-party Communist rule. Mr Koirala, however, declined that he would join the Maoist-led government.

He said he is not prepared to work together with the Maoists as they have breached an understanding over implementation of the peace agreement and alleged that Mr Prachanda has tried to undermine democratic values. —PTI