Taking a swipe at India, the foremost leader of the Maoists in Nepal Sunday spurned a government deadline to come to the talks table, calling it "abstract" and amounting to a "threat".

Pushpa Kamal Dahal, aka Prachanda, issued a statement saying the government action smacked of a conspiracy. The statement also said international mediation was needed to "defeat foreign reactionaries and mainly India's expansionist intervention" and accused the ruling elite of acting as tools of foreign reactionary forces and feudal elements.

However, the statement did not rule out the possibility of dialogues totally. But for that to materialise there has to be mediation by a "reliable" international organisation, it said.

The rejection comes in answer to Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba making a public announcement last week that if the Maoists do not come to the talks table by Jan 13, the government would go ahead with its plans to hold elections by next year.

In his statement, Dahal said the appeal for talks would serve only to perpetuate feudal oppression of people and militarisation of the country. The government had not been able to create an atmosphere conducive for free and fair elections and the bid to continue with poll arrangements would only push the country towards another crisis.

The Maoist supremo reiterated the demand for a different kind of election, one that would form a group who would write a new constitution for Nepal in place of the present one that advocates constitutional monarchy.

The Maoists, fighting to install a communist republic in the Himalayan kingdom, have been asking for mediation by the UN or similar organisations while the Nepalese government says it is an internal matter of Nepal.

India too, while offering logistics support for the peace talks, does not favour third-party mediation.

The Deuba ministry is meeting Monday to discuss the statement. Though all the parties in the coalition government Thursday agreed to proceed with poll plans if the Maoists did not heed the deadline, bumpy days are ahead with a major partner, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist, again raising the bogey of quitting the government.

--Indo-Asian News Service