Kathmandu, June 19 (PTI): Under fire from the Maoists over his proposal to replace the King with a six-year-old prince, Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala today said he was misquoted by the media.

The Maoist chief, Prachanda, yesterday rejected Koirala's proposal to make King Gyanendra's grandson the ceremonial King of the country and said such a proposal could jeopardise the coalition government in Nepal.

"The Pakistani journalists who were listening to me may have understood what I have exactly said, but the Nepalese journalists may not have grasped what exactly I have said, as I was talking in English," Koirala told reporters.

Koirala said he was not a "rescuer" of the monarchy

He told a group of visiting Pakistani journalists and some local reporters on Sunday that he urged King Gynendra and Crown Prince Paras to abdicate in favour of Paras' son Prince Hridayendra before the constituent assembly elections.

Koirala said he did not favour monarchy at this moment.

The Prime Minister said he was just referring to the remarks made by him eight months ago, saying that if the King and the Crown Prince had accepted his advice to step down that could have saved monarchy.

"Now the situation has completely changed," he added.

"I will honour whatever the people's verdict through the constituent assembly polls," Koirala said.

Prachanda had said Koirala's proposal could jeopardise the coalition government in Nepal and would only "weaken" the interim constitution.

The CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Nepal also criticised Koirala for his remarks about monarchy.