With the Sher Bahadur Deuba government failing to resume peace talks and Maoist rebels stepping up attacks, more political unrest seems to be on the cards in Nepal.

From Thursday, the student wing of one of the leading parliamentary parties, which is also a partner in the ruling coalition, is starting a 16-day protest against the Deuba government for not being able to meet people's expectations.

The All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU), the powerful student wing of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), has also given its parent party an ultimatum.

The CPN-UML has been asked to quit the government immediately or give a public explanation as to why it is still with the Deuba government, which has not carried out any of the common programmes agreed upon by coalition partners.

In the party itself, the hawkish leaders have already started criticising the prime minister as being the main block in the way of holding talks with the rebels.

A second coalition partner of the government, the royalist Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), has also become a vocal critic of Deuba with its spokesperson Tuesday expressing the party's dissatisfaction with the prime minister.

To add a final twist to Nepal's complicated politics, former prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa whom Deuba succeeded seems set to make a comeback bid. 

Thapa, who resigned in May, paving the way for the reappointment of Deuba by King Gyanendra, has announced he will set up a new political force.

Thapa, who belongs to the RPP, is likely to split the party, which would add to the complexities.

Also waiting in the wings are four opposition parties that have announced fresh protests against the Deuba government.

Led by the Nepali Congress party of another former prime minister, Girija Prasad Koirala, the opposition coalition, it is being speculated, might ally itself with Thapa's new party.

--Indo-Asian News Service