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KATHMANDU, Monday (AFP) Nepal's Maoist rebel leader criticised a decision by caretaker prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to extend emergency rule and call early elections.

Last week Deuba asked King Gyanendra to dissolve the 205-member lower house of parliament and call elections for November 13, two years ahead of schedule.

Deuba on Sunday was sensationally expelled from his own party for three years over the move.

He said he had to take the surprise drastic step after opposition from his own party to his proposal to extend emergency rule by another six months to control the Maoist rebellion.

Opponents argue an extension to the emergency would be undemocratic and unnecessary because existing anti-terrorism laws could be used against the rebels.

The emergency, which was first introduced in November last year to combat the Maoists, expired Saturday, but is expected to be extended by a royal ordinance on Monday.

"Political parties in and outside parliament had protested against the extension of the state emergency and desired talks between the government and the Maoists to resolve the country's problems," Maoist chairman Puspa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachand, said in a statement.

"However, the Deuba government ignored political parties and dissolved the elected parliament to silence them to extend the emergency," he said.

"This only exposed him in a naked form as a retrograde force," he added.

Prachand said the government had taken its latest move "at the clear behest of foreign imperialists and the headquarters of the feudal army".

Emergency rule gives local authorities and security forces wide powers to detain and interrogate suspected Maoists and impose curfews.

"The Maoists have always kept open the door for the bilateral talks and appealed to all the political parties to help hold the talks," Prachand said.

"But the government's autocratic move of closing all doors to the talks only lay bare its traitorous and inhuman face."

He called for the formation of an interim government to overcome the political problems.

"In such a critical hour in the history of the country, the people have no alternative to find a peaceful solution to problems by starting a united revolution and set up an interim government," he said.

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