NEW DELHI, Feb 2: India's mainstream political parties from the left to the right on Wednesday rallied behind Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision not to travel to Dhaka for the Saarc summit.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist, CPI-M) also slammed Tuesday's decision by King Gyanendra to dismiss the elected government of Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Indian officials said privately that after the United States voiced concern at the suspension of civil liberties in the Himalayan kingdom, diplomatic focus had shifted on to China, which has categorically described the imposition of emergency by King Gyanendra as Nepal's internal affair.

They pointed out that Nepal had curiously wound up the office of the Dalai Lama and also shut down a Tibetan refugee centre in Kathmandu at the weekend, prompting a grateful acknowledgement from Beijing.

Indian communists were on a different trajectory. "The CPI(M) and the other democratic forces will extend all support to the democratic forces in Nepal who will not take this attack on democracy lying down," the party's politburo said in a statement.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had earlier invited former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and opposition leader Lal Kishan Advani for a discussion on the latest developments in Nepal.

"The events in Nepal have seriously affected the cause of legitimate democracy. India has been consistently supporting the development of a political system in Nepal that truly reflects people's aspirations. The king's draconian actions have caused a serious setback to this process," the BJP said in a statement.

Confirming New Delhi's decision not to attend the Saarc summit, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, a former ambassador to Nepal, said at a news conference what was feared on Tuesday itself: "We have formally communicated to the Government of Bangladesh that India will not be able to attend the forthcoming Saarc summit in Dhaka on the scheduled dates," he said.

"This decision has been taken against the background of recent developments in our neighbourhood which have caused us grave concern," Mr Saran said. "The security situation in Dhaka has deteriorated in recent days, following the fatal attack on the former finance minister of Bangladesh."

Mr Saran recalled how India had been persuading the Nepali monarch against taking the drastic step. "Our constant refrain has been that the two pillars of stability, political stability in Nepal are constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy," he said.

"We have also advised him against taking the kind of step that he has taken, pointing out that this will only mean that the monarchy will be in direct confrontation not only with the Maoist insurgency, but with the political parties."