Leader Named to Form Nepal Government

King Birendra gave in to opposition demands for democracy Monday by permitting a newly legalized coalition to form a provisional government, which promptly named its acting president as prime minister.

The opposition Nepali Congress party announced that Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, its acting president, would head Nepal’s first government in 30 years not set up by the monarch.

Birendra, who promised reforms after two months of bloody pro-democracy demonstrations, earlier Monday dissolved the National Assembly and dismissed Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand, although Birendra asked Chand to stay on in a caretaker capacity.

The concessions followed the king’s decision April 8 to lift the 29-year-old ban on political parties in an effort to appease the pro-democracy movement, which included violent clashes between protesters and police.

Birendra had proposed that the leader of the Nepali Congress party, Ganesh Man Singh, 75, be the new prime minister but Singh declined on health grounds and proposed Bhattarai’s candidacy.

A statement released by the party said it and the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy--an alliance of seven Communist parties--agreed on the appointment of Bhattarai, 65, who had been Speaker of the Parliament when it was dissolved three decades ago.

Bhattarai told reporters that he will present the names of the members of his government to the king today.

He called his new job “a very, very challenging task for which I was not at all mentally prepared. Still I am glad that my friends and comrades have reposed so much . . . confidence in me for which I am thankful to them all.”

Bhattarai said the new government’s first priorities will be to improve the economy and relations with India.

Bhattarai also said his government plans to compensate the families of those killed by security forces during the seven-week democracy campaign and reorganize the police force to limit its powers.

The new government will have the task of conducting elections under a multi-party democracy.