Nepal PM to retire after election

KATHMANDU, Nepal, March 12 (UPI) -- Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala says he will retire from politics after the April 10 constituent assembly elections.

Koirala, whose Nepali Congress heads the seven-party interim government, said, "I will hand over the Nepali Congress leadership to the new generation after the April polls," he told reporters at his home town Biratnagar, near Kathmandu, the Press Trust of India reported Wednesday.

The new constituent assembly may decide to scrap the Himalayan kingdom's 238-year-old monarchy and declare it a republic.

There have been reports supporters of Nepal's discredited King Gyanendra may try to disrupt the polls but Koirala firmly said that "no force" can do so, the report said.

Koirala, 82, has been Nepal's prime minister for four terms in the past dating to 1991. In his current term, he was chosen to head the interim government after Gyanendra was forced to give up his absolute rule in April 2006.

Gyanendra ascended the throne in 2001 after his older brother, King Birendra, and eight other royal family members were gunned down by Birendra's son and heir.