At least 20 political parties are meeting in Nepal in a bid to form a new coalition a day after Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal resigned.
The resignation came after Nepal's president opposed his decision to sack the army chief Gen Rookmangud Katawal.
Meanwhile, the Maoists have held several small street protests in the capital, Kathmandu, and other towns.
Hundreds of policemen have been deployed around the president's palace and police have detained 40 protesters.
Mr Dahal, best known as Prachanda, dramatically announced his resignation in a television address to the nation.
Correspondents say Prachanda's resignation has pushed Nepal into a fresh political crisis following an election win by the Maoists last year.
Protests
"An all-party meeting is being held at the office of the Communist UML party on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of forming a coalition government," Nepali Congress leader Shekhar Koirala told the BBC.
Mr Koirala said the Maoists - who emerged as the biggest group in parliament after last year's elections - were unlikely to attend the meeting.
Meanwhile, security around the presidential palace in Kathmandu was stepped up as Maoist activists held a number of street protests across Nepal.
Hundreds of policemen were deployed around President Ram Baran Yadav's office and police detained about 40 protesters who had gathered there in violation of a ban, police said.
"We are planning protests in different parts of the Kathmandu valley on Tuesday afternoon," the AFP news agency quoted Uma Subedi, secretary of the Maoists' youth wing, the Young Communist League, as saying.
"We will launch regular protests until the president takes back his decision," she said.
On Monday, Prachanda said in his TV address that he was stepping down "for the protection of democracy and peace" in Nepal.
"The move by the president is an attack on this infant democracy and the peace process," he said.
His resignation followed months of worsening tensions between the ex-rebels and their former foes in the military.
Correspondents say that the expectation now is that the Maoists will sit in opposition in parliament. There is no suggestion that the Maoists will abandon constitutional politics.
The Maoists want their fighters, who are currently restricted to United Nations-supervised camps, to be integrated into the regular Nepali army.
But the army has refused to take on the fighters, who number about 19,000 hardened guerrillas, arguing that they are politically indoctrinated.
Correspondents say that the crisis is the most serious in Nepal since its 10-year long civil war between the army and the Maoists came to an end.
The resignation came after Nepal's president opposed his decision to sack the army chief Gen Rookmangud Katawal.
Meanwhile, the Maoists have held several small street protests in the capital, Kathmandu, and other towns.
Hundreds of policemen have been deployed around the president's palace and police have detained 40 protesters.
Mr Dahal, best known as Prachanda, dramatically announced his resignation in a television address to the nation.
Correspondents say Prachanda's resignation has pushed Nepal into a fresh political crisis following an election win by the Maoists last year.
Protests
"An all-party meeting is being held at the office of the Communist UML party on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of forming a coalition government," Nepali Congress leader Shekhar Koirala told the BBC.
Mr Koirala said the Maoists - who emerged as the biggest group in parliament after last year's elections - were unlikely to attend the meeting.
Meanwhile, security around the presidential palace in Kathmandu was stepped up as Maoist activists held a number of street protests across Nepal.
Hundreds of policemen were deployed around President Ram Baran Yadav's office and police detained about 40 protesters who had gathered there in violation of a ban, police said.
"We are planning protests in different parts of the Kathmandu valley on Tuesday afternoon," the AFP news agency quoted Uma Subedi, secretary of the Maoists' youth wing, the Young Communist League, as saying.
"We will launch regular protests until the president takes back his decision," she said.
On Monday, Prachanda said in his TV address that he was stepping down "for the protection of democracy and peace" in Nepal.
"The move by the president is an attack on this infant democracy and the peace process," he said.
His resignation followed months of worsening tensions between the ex-rebels and their former foes in the military.
Correspondents say that the expectation now is that the Maoists will sit in opposition in parliament. There is no suggestion that the Maoists will abandon constitutional politics.
The Maoists want their fighters, who are currently restricted to United Nations-supervised camps, to be integrated into the regular Nepali army.
But the army has refused to take on the fighters, who number about 19,000 hardened guerrillas, arguing that they are politically indoctrinated.
Correspondents say that the crisis is the most serious in Nepal since its 10-year long civil war between the army and the Maoists came to an end.
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