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Uncertainties over the formation of a new government increased after King Gyanendra, accompanied by Queen Komal and Crown Prince Paras, on Wednesday evening left for the historic town of Gorkha.
This derailed the desperate attempts of Nepalese politicians to seek an audience with the king to urge him to rectify his 'unconstitutional' step of dismissing prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and temporarily assuming all executive powers.
Last Friday, the king dismissed Deuba's government saying it was incapable of holding general elections as per schedule in November.
The monarch had also set a five-day timeframe to form a new government comprising representatives from all parties. The deadline expired on Wednesday.
In the days that followed the royal announcement, government officials have recalled several government vehicles in the possession of former ministers and their relatives.
In another development, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), has begun interrogating three former ministers - Jay Prakash Gupta, Chiranjiwi Wagle and Radha Krishna Mainali - who were accused of corruption.
Earlier, King Gyanendra had met former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, leader of the main opposition party in the dissolved house of representatives Madhav Kumar Nepal, Left leader Narayan Man Bijukchhe Rohit and sacked prime minister Deuba separately at the palace.
But, instead of agreeing to cooperate with the monarch, the leaders expressed dissatisfaction with the king's decision angry at the monarch's attempt to 'mar the achievements of the popular movement of 1990', which ushered in a democratic polity in the Himalayn kingdom sandwiched between India and China.
Leaders of six political parties had later met in the Kathmandu residence of Koirala on Monday to discuss the developments. On Tuesday, they decided to first seek a joint audience with the king and urge him to rectify his 'unconstitutional' step.
To that effect, a request was registered in the secretariat of the monarch.
The leaders want an audience with King Gyanendra before recommending some names for the new government, Nepali Congress general secretary Govinda Raj Joshi said.
The parties involved in this initiative are the Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, Nepal Sadbhawana Party, Nepal Workers and Peasants' Party (NWPP) and the People's Front of Nepal.
However, the royal family's plans have derailed their initiative. King Gyanendra and his family are to spend the night at the historic Gorkha palace from where his ancestor Prithvi Narayan Shah led the campaign to unify Nepal.
The royal family is scheduled to perform certain rituals at the temples of Gorakhkali and Gorakhnath Baba, the ancestral deity of the Shah dynasty, to mark the Dussehra festival that the nation has been observing since Monday.
Earlier on Tuesday afternoon, in the first public display of protest against the king's October 4 announcement, about 3,000 people took to the streets of Kathmandu chanting slogans against Gyanendra's move. They went around the city, carrying placards and flags of the CPN-UML and its sister organizations.
At the same time, supporters of the king's move had organised a public meeting at the Open Air Theatre or Khulla Manch in downtown Kathmandu.
The underground Maoists, who want to depose the monarchy, have also flayed the king's move.
Leader of the underground Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai vehemently criticised the king's move in a statement faxed to Kathmandu media houses. Party activists on Tuesday detonated a bomb at the Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industry complex.
The explosion did not cause any serious damage but the Maoists had made their point.
Letters expressing concern have also begun pouring in from various parts of the world with India, United States of America, Japan and United Kingdom emphasising the need to uphold the democratic constitution introduced of 1990.
However, China, Nepal's neighbour to the north, has chosen to remain neutral saying the developments are Nepal's internal affair.
EARLIER REPORT Deuba calls king's move unconstitutional
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