Kathmandu, Feb 09: King Gyanendra's speech at a civic reception yesterday has drawn flak from the opposition parties, who have called it an attempt ''to grab power at any cost and render the 1990 constitution redundant''. The Kathmandu Post quoted Nepali Congress leader and former deputy prime minister Ram Chandra Paudyal as calling the King an ''autocratic monarch''. Meanwhile, Modnath Prasrit of the CPN-UML said the speech reminded one of the defunct panchayat regime. ''What is obvious now is that he is not holding back from contesting with the political parties.'' A faction of Nepal Sadbhavana Party, Nepal Peasants and Workers Party and Janamorcha Nepal have also said that the speech of the King has saddened the political parties. However, small political parties which had no representation in the dissolved house of parliament, have welcomed the statement of the King saying that it reflected the reality and would help safeguard national integrity and development. While addressing the civic reception ceremony held in Nepalgunj yesterday, the King, without naming the political parties and the Maoists, had criticised them for creating an environment of tug of war, murder and violence. Bureau Report