KATHMANDU - Almost two months after Nepal’s Maoist government became embroiled in a row with the army and was ousted from power, the republic’s new Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal now finds himself dragged into yet another controversy involving both the army and the Maoist guerrilla forces.

The Prime Minister’s Office was forced to issue a clarification Sunday after the controversy snowballed and threatened to wedge a deeper rift between the ruling coalition and the Maoists, who are warning to go on the warpath.

The row erupted after British news agency Reuters asked the new prime minister about the contentious issue of merging the Maoists’ People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with the Nepal Army.

The agency quoted the premier as saying that Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda “had told him and other leaders that upto 5,000 Maoist fighters who fulfilled the recruitment criteria should be absorbed in the army”.

“So, if their leader confirms that thinking, then there is no question of integrating the total number of Maoist combatants in the army,” the agency reported the premier as saying.

The report, picked up by other media, caused anger among the Maoists and reportedly, displeasure in the army.

The Maoists accused Nepal of speaking out of turn. According to the peace pact they signed three years ago to end their armed uprising, only the special committee formed to direct the merger is authorised to take a decision on the issue.

They have also pointed out that a verification conducted by the UN with the consensus of all major parties, including Nepal’s own, indicates there are about 19,000 PLA combatants who are eligible to be inducted into the army.

The Maoists are also blaming India for the controversy, alleging that the prime minister talked about inducting 5,000 PLA fighters after a ’secret’ meeting between Defence Minister Vidya Bhandari and the Indian ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood.

The statement issued by the PMO Sunday said Nepal had not said anything about inducting 5,000 PLA men in the army. It also said the prime minister should not be misinterpreted on an issue as sensitive as the integration.

The statement pointed out that when asked how the merger would proceed, Nepal had said his government would honour the peace agreement and the integration committee would be reconstituted.

“(The PM had said that) no homework has yet been done on the total number of people to be inducted in the security forces,” the statement said. “If we have to talk on the basis of a rough idea, Prachanda told me and (former prime minister) Girija Prasad Koirala that 3,000-5,000 combatants have to be inducted into security forces, the army.

“If the (PLA’s) own leaders confirm this thinking, then there’s no question of absorbing the entire number in the army.”

The merger of the two armies came into dispute earlier this year after a leaked video tape showed Prachanda as saying that he had inflated the number of the PLA from its original 7,000-8,000 to nearly 35,000 so that even after the weeding out by the UN, it would still have a sizeable number left.