Nepal’s Premier Resigns After Power Struggle Over Army Chief

KATMANDU,

In a televised address to the nation, the prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who goes by the name Prachanda, said he was stepping down, one day after Nepal’s president overruled his decision to fire the army chief, Rookmangud Katawal.

“I announce, through this address, my resignation from the cabinet I have chaired so as to put an end to this difficult situation and create a positive environment for salvaging democracy, nationalism and the peace process that are currently at risk,” Prachanda, a former Maoist guerrilla fighter, said in his 13-minute address.

Clusters of people gathered in front of television shops in the capital, Katmandu, to watch the prime minister give his address as a continuing power crisis left many parts of the city without electricity.

Prachanda’s party entered into competitive politics after signing a peace deal in 2006, ending a decade-long Maoist rebellion. He became prime minister in August after four months of political wrangling; in May, the nation’s elected Constituent Assembly declared the nation a federal republic, ending 239 years of Hindu monarchy.

Plunging Nepal into a fresh political crisis after a decade of war, the prime minister resigned Monday in a power struggle over his dismissal of the army chief.