Soon after the royal takeover on 1 February 2005, the deputy leader of the Maoists, Baburam Bhattarai was released from house arrest. In October 2005, the Maoist party held a central committee meeting in Chunwang, in the Rukum district. In the prevailing context of King Gyanendra's seizure of power, this meeting concluded that the Maoist party should collaborate with parliamentary parties to overthrow the autocratic monarchy. This meeting also decided to campaign for a Constituent Assembly election and ultimately, a democratic republic. This decision came after the Maoists analysed that they would not be able to capture the state through direct armed confrontation against the army.

Nearly nine months after the royal takeover, on 22 November 2005, and around 800 kilometres away from the centre of Nepal's politics, Jhalak Sharma took leave of absence from his work at a small private firm in Green Park, New Delhi. A communist at heart, although not an active party cadre, Jhalak Sharma had participated in the first People's Movement in 1990. When the new democratic system failed to create any opportunity for him, Jhalak—like many people in Nepal—migrated to India in search of work. His diploma in commerce from Delhi University got him a job that was better than the low-paid menial jobs most Nepalese had to settle for. He worked to pay his bills and take care of his family, leading an ordinary non-descript life until November 2005.