Nepal's opposition vows protests to topple PM

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai's opponents say he lost his legitimacy Sunday when the term of the country's Constituent Assembly expired without agreement on a constitution. Bhattarai has said he will lead a caretaker government until another assembly is picked in elections he called for November.

The leader of the Nepali Congress party, Arjun Narsingh, said his and 14 other parties have agreed to hold rallies and street protests aimed at pressuring Bhattarai to resign. Protests took place in the capital Wednesday.

"We are not against elections, but we don't want Baburam Bhattarai to conduct the elections," Narsingh said. "We are demanding a new government that would have representation from all major political parties to ensure that the polls are free and fair."

Writing the new constitution was supposed to cap an interim period aimed at solidifying details of Nepal's democracy after the country closed centuries of royal rule and resolved a decade-long Maoist insurgency by bringing the former combatants into the political mainstream.