King Gyanendra dismissed Nepal's coalition government on Tuesday and enforced an indefinite emergency, igniting charges he had staged a coup in the Himalayan outpost battling a Maoist revolt. "I have exercised the rights given to the crown under the present constitution and dissolved the government in the larger interests of the people," the king said in an address on nation-wide television.
"A state of emergency has been enforced across the country," suspending all fundamental rights of citizens, state-run radio and television said.
Gyanendra, who sacked prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for the second time in two years, pledged to "restore democracy and law and order in the country in the next three years."
"For the larger interest of the Nepalese general public, the nation and democracy and people's fundamentals rights, we have decided to form a new government under my own chairmanship," he said.
State radio said the king had suspended some articles of the 1991 constitution but did not say which ones. Article 127 allows the monarch to "remove difficulties in government".
Political leaders accused Gyanendra, who ascended the throne after a palace massacre in 2001, of carrying out a coup.
"The king's actions against the all-party government mark a state of coup against democratic practices," said education and sports minister Bimalendra Niddhi.
The ousted prime minister issued a statement accusing the king of "a flagrant violation of the constitution of Nepal."
"It is an anti-democratic step and we strongly denounce this act. This step has thrown the country into a grave crisis," he said.
The Nepali Congress Democratic Party-United Marxist Leninist voiced strong objections to its leaders being kept indoors.
Deuba's party, the Nepali Congress Democratic Party, issued an appeal for broad opposition to the king's move "for the cause of the nation, democracy and constitution." Troops and armed police patrolled the streets and surrounded the palace and other key sites such as government buildings.
Residents of Kathmandu reached by telephone said outgoing landline telephone and mobile phone links were cut.
India warned that the monarchy and politicians were now on a collision course.
"These developments constitute a serious setback to the cause of democracy in Nepal and cannot but be a cause of grave concern to India," the foreign ministry said in New Delhi.
"The safety and welfare of the political leaders must be ensured and political parties must be allowed to exercise all the rights enjoyed by them under the Constitution.
"The latest developments in Nepal bring the monarchy and the mainstream political parties in direct confrontation with each other," the ministry said.
The king accused political parties of "indulging in factional fighting."
"All the democratic forces and political leaders should have united to protect the country's democracy," Gyanendra said in a half-hour speech.
The king first sacked Deuba in 2002 and branded him incompetent for dissolving parliament but then failing to organise the elections.
But Gyanendra recalled the veteran politician last year, ordering him to hold elections and resume talks with Maoists amid international and domestic pressure to restore democracy.
Gyanendra became king in June 2001 after his brother King Birendra and most of the royal family were shot dead by the former crown prince, who was high on drink and drugs. The crown prince also killed himself.