Nepal Deputy PM calls visit to India ‘successful’

From Shirish B Pradhan Kathmandu, Aug 23 (PTI) Terming his India visit as"successful", Nepal’s Deputy Prime Minister Bimlendra Nidhitoday said all "obstacles" in the bilateral relationship havebeen cleared ahead of Premier Prachanda’s trip to the countrynext month. Nidhi had paid a four-day visit to India from August 17 to22 as the special envoy of Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal"Prachanda". Nidhi said his visit was "successful" in improvingNepal-India ties that were at an all-time low since thepromulgation of the Constitution in Nepal last year and overthe Madhesi agitation. "All the obstacles in the bilateral relationship have beencleared after the visit," he said. Nidhi’s visit was mainly centred to prepare ground forPrachanda’s upcoming official visit to India on September 15,the first foreign entourage of the Prime Minister afterassuming office last month. Nidhi who is also Nepal’s Home Minister discussed theproposed visit of President Pranab Mukherjee to Nepal andNepal President Bidya Bhandari to India. The visit of special envoy Nidhi is the first high-levelvisit from Nepal to India after the formation of the newgovernment in Nepal under Prachanda. Nidhi held high-level meetings with Mukherjee, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, Minister for External Affairs SushmaSwaraj and as well as Congress leader Dr Manmohan Singh amongothers during his stay in New Delhi. Nidhi said he briefed Indian leaders and officials aboutNepal’s top priorities that included implementation of theConstitution, which was promulgated in September last year. Nidhi said he discussed matters relating to theanti-constitution movement that was launched by Madhesiparties and amendment to the new constitution for resolvingpolitical crisis among other issues. Prachanda had sent a special envoy to China as well.Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara’s visit to Chinacomes following anxieties in Beijing over the fate of projectsconnecting China and Nepal to reduce dependence on India. PTISBP UZM ASKUZM