By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Jan 19: Chairman of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Prachanda-Nepal faction Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' Tuesday said the NCP was in protest against regression and urged all to not take the agitation otherwise.

Chairman Prachanda said so while addressing the second national assembly of the Press Organisation, Nepal, a press-related mass organization of the NCP.

The former Prime Minister argued that the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR) as done by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was similar to dissolving the constitution.

The leader of the former rebels who waged a decade long (1996-2006) armed insurgency before joining the mainstream peaceful politics made it clear that his expressions during the present agitation never supported violence nor were they meant for that purpose. "We have repeatedly emphasised on rebuilding the country by means of the ballot, not the bullet in the present situation."

He lamented that his expressions were twisted and explained out of context.

NCP Chair Prachanda said the NCP was protesting the HoR dissolution as it gave a hint of an attempt to reinstate the monarchy in the country. "We must at any cost spoil the conspiracy to push back the country into autocracy".

Chair Prachanda viewed that Prime Minister Oli's style and behavior was leading the country to the crisis.

Similarly, another NCP Chair and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said that the party was protesting the dissolution of the HoR to institutionalise the changes brought about by the constitution promulgated by the Constituent Assembly in 2015 and the constitution itself.

He said the NCP had not approved Prime Minister Oli's move to dissolve the HoR.

NCP leader Yogesh Bhattarai, Bishnu Rijal, and senior journalists Shambhu Shrestha, Narayan Wagle, Kishor Shrestha, Maheshwor Dahal, and chair of FONIJ Dand Gurung expressed their views in the programme.