CPN Maoist not to join govt ?

Maoist leaders have said they won't join the next government as their presidential candidate Ram Raja Prasad Singh has lost the election.

Talking to reporters after the results of the presidential run-off were out unofficially, Maoist central secretariat member C.P. Gajurel said his party would remain in the opposition and focus on constitution-making. He also insisted that the new alliance (of Nepali Congress, UML and Madhesi Janahikar Forum) is "unholy and unnatural".

Another Maoist leader Suresh Ale Magar also said the CPN-M would play the role of an opposition in the Constituent Assembly. Terming the new alliance as odd, Ale Magar however said the Maoists had accepted the results of the presidential election. "It is just usual that you either win or lose in the election. We accept the results normally," he said.

Senior Maoist leader Mohan Baidya had yesterday said the party would not join the government if Singh lost the presidential election.

Sources said that the Maoist central secretariat meeting this morning decided to stay out of the government in the event that Singh lost, but there was no official announcement regarding this decision.