MOSCOW, June 5: President Boris Yeltsin opened a constitutional convention in the Kremlin on Saturday, but It was immediately thrown into pandemonium when his chief rival stormed out. reports AP.

Yeltsin told the 700 delegates that Russia had reached a "most important watershed' and called for the elimination of the Soviet-era Congress that has resisted his free-market reforms.

"The Congress of People s Deputies is an unnatural structure," he said, "It's a subject of manipulation while having practically unlimited power."

Congress Speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov, Yeltsin's chief opponent in a yearling struggle for power, then strode to the podium of the Kremlin s glittering Marble Hall and demanded a chance to respond to the president's 35-mlnute opening address.

Yeltsin refused. He said that if he opened the convention to floor debate, ft would Immediately become "another session of Congress."

Catcalls and shouts rang out as Khasbulatov's supporters "protested and Yeltsin's backers jeered. Finally, the parliament speaker grabbed a microphone on the podium below Yeltsin.

Khasbulatov said angrily that Yeltsin's refusal to let him speak "shows you're not capable of holding a discussion." Then he walked out pf the chamber, followed by about 50 other delegates.

"It Is clear where we are heading now... We are moving toward a dictatorship," he told reporters as he left the Kremlin.

It appeared that the convention would proceed anyway. Yeltsin aides had been prepared for a possible walkout, although its occurrence In the first hour of the assembly took many delegate* by surprise.

"It was a premeditated attempt at a provocation,'' Yeltsin told reporters. "It did not disrupt the work of the convention."

Meanwhile. 3,000 to 5.000 diehard Communist and na tionalists rallied outside the headquarters of the former KGB

to denounce Yeltsin and his proposed constitution.

“Long live the Soviet Socialist Constitution!" said a banner carried by the marcher*. An elderly woman waved a sign that read: "When the Democrats were In psychiatric hospitals, the people of Russia worked, harvested and sangl"

Yeltsin's opening speech was shown on commonwealth television. but the live broadcast ended as soon as he finished, so Khasbulatov's walkout and the ensuing pandemonium was not shown.

Standing on the pale wood podium, flanked by Russian (lags, Yeltsin read his speech in a forceful voice.

"We have reached a most important watershed in the life of the Russia state," he said. "Starting June 5. 1993, the clock of history will mark especially significant days. The decisive phase of constitutional reform has begun."

Yeltsin called the convention after winning a national vole of confidence on April 25.