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KATHMANDU, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Nepal's mainstream political parties forged unity on Tuesday and said they would step up protests against King Gyanendra's decision to sack an elected prime minister and appoint a royal nominee in his place.

The country's five main parties, who held talks for the first time since Gyanendra appointed Lokendra Bahadur Chand as interim prime minister in October, said the protests would be non-violent.

The king dismissed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for seeking to delay general elections and assumed executive powers, sparking a political crisis in the world's only Hindu kingdom.

Gyanendra subsequently appointed Chand, a staunch monarchist, as interim prime minister. Chand has vowed to hold early elections but set no date.

Political parties say Gyanendra had not returned executive powers he assumed after sacking Deuba and was ruling by proxy through Chand.

The crisis is the latest in impoverished Nepal that is battling an increasingly violent Maoist revolt aimed at replacing the constitutional monarchy with a one-party communist republic.

"The royal move of October 4 has dealt a serious blow to democracy," the five parties said in a statement.

"Protests will be stepped up to protect the achievements of the 1990 popular movement and to give the country a forward looking direction," the statement said referring to the campaign that replaced absolute monarchy with parliamentary democracy.

Party officials said each of the parties would organise separate rallies and consider holding joint rallies later.

The parties had organised some protests in the aftermath of Gyanendra's decision but there was a lull for more than a month until the Nepali Congress, the country's largest party, mobilised some 5,000 people to march through Kathmandu in late November.

On the other hand, several citizens' groups had organised rallies in support of the king's move.

Ousted premier Deuba wanted to delay elections by one year citing a Maoist threat to derail the vote.

More than 7,200 people, mostly guerrillas, have been killed since the Maoists launched their revolt in 1996.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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