KATHMANDU, Dec 8 - Maoist second-in-command Dr Baburam Bhattarai has claimed that a new Nepal cannot be materialised with the unity between the Maoists and erstwhile parliamentary democratic forces and royalist forces.

Interacting with intellectuals in the capital Saturday, Dr Bhattarai said that a “new national unity is needed among yesterday’s parliamentary democratic forces, yesterday’s royalist forces and the revolutionary forces for forward-looking restructuring of the society and socioeconomic transformation of the country. A new Nepal can be materialised only with the unity among these three forces”

He also said that Maoist supremo Prachanda had sought an alliance with the nationalists to ensure that the royalists do not derail the ongoing peace process.

Prachanda’s statement was aimed at ensuring that “they (the erstwhile royalists) would not feel intimidated and that they would not cause hassles as they, too, would have a space in new Nepal,” he said.

The Maoist ideologue also clarified that the Maoists were currently seeking an end to feudalism and transformation of capitalism in the country.