Prachanda called up Congress president Sonia Gandhi and some top Left leaders in New Delhi and expressed his desire to strengthen ties between the two countries.
NEW DELHI: Prachanda, the leader of the Maoists who are set to take power in Nepal, on Friday called up Congress president Sonia Gandhi and some top Left leaders in New Delhi and expressed his desire to strengthen ties between the two countries.
Highly placed Nepal Maoist sources told DNA that the new dispensation in Kathmandu is keen to boost bilateral ties in various fields. Nepal Maoists have evinced keen interest in replicating West Bengal’s land reforms and Kerala’s success in education and health care.
Sources said Prachanda is likely to visit West Bengal soon. CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury who is on a two-day tour of Nepal on Friday handed over an invite to Prachanda from chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Yechury had detailed talks with Prachanda at his Nayabazaar residence.
He also met Maoist second-in-command Baburam Bhattarai. Yechury held separate consultations with Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala and representatives of Madhesi lead by Upendra Yadav.
On Thursday he had a meeting with Communist Party of Nepal (UML) Madhav Kumar Nepal.
Yechury said India and the Indian people wanted a stable democratic republic in Nepal which will work for the prosperity of the Nepalese people and hoped that “the democratic process of building a Republic in Nepal will be consolidated soon.”
Sources said Yechury had detailed talks with external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee before his Nepal visit. Asked if he was carrying any specific missive from the Indian government, the CPI(M) leader replied in the negative.
Yechury, who is the first Indian political leader to visit Nepal after the Maoists won the elections, said the speculation that he came to Nepal at New Delhi’s insistence, was “baseless”.
On a question on the Maoist desire to scrap the Indo-Nepal Treaty, he said way back in 1989-90, the CPI(M) had demanded a review of the agreement as by that time four decades had lapsed and the situation had changed a lot. His party’s argument is still valid, he told mediapersons in Kathmandu.
Asked if he came to forge an understanding among the parties, the CPI(M) leader claimed that the next government will be formed on the mutual agreement of the parties and stated that India will only extend best wishes and support in the process.
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