"One of the agendas of my visit is to remove misunderstanding and doubts if any at the highest political level, [between the] governments and prime ministers of both countries," Gachchhadar told Republica from New Delhi, Wednesday about the purpose of his visit. [break]
Gachchhadar flew to New Delhi on Tuesday to meet Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and other Indian politicians, leaving many back home speculating about a visit that comes at a time of widespread rumor about a change of government. His four-day visit was organized at short notice.
Republica´s efforts to seek further details about what he meant by "misunderstanding" at the highest political level between the two South Asian neighbors failed as the line became disconnected during the telephone interview. He was not available for further interviewing despite repeated attempts.
Gachchhadar, who met the Indian prime minister at the latter´s office on Wednesday, said Prime Minister Singh spoke about Nepal-China relations and suggested that Nepal strengthen its relations with China. Dr Singh also termed the recent visit here by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as positive.
"India wishes to see Nepal´s good relations with China, Nepal should strengthen relations with China," Gachchhadar quoted the Indian prime minister as saying, adding, "He further said that India-China relations have improved in recent times."
The Indian prime minister´s remark on Nepal-China relations come in the wake of similar remarks by the Chinese premier on Nepal-India relations. During his meeting with Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai on Saturday, the Chinese premier had taken time to speak of Nepal-India relations. He said China wanted to see Nepal-India relations strengthened further.
Gachchhadar, in his telephone interview, said the Indian prime minister expressed India´s concern at the stalemate over constitution writing and the peace process in recent weeks. Dr Singh said India wished to see completion of the constitution writing and peace process within the May 28 deadline.
"He (Singh) told me that Nepal should complete the tasks as soon as possible, that there was no alternative to it, and expressed India´s readiness to extend support for the completion of those tasks" Gachachhadar said.
"I told him that the peace process and constitution writing will move forward despite stalemate over the past three weeks and we will complete both the tasks. I apprised him that the cabinet on Tuesday approved the budget for voluntary retirement [of Maoist combatants] and both voluntary retirement and integration of Maoist combatants will begin very soon," Gachchhadar further said.
The Indian prime minister said India is ready to extend any assistance to Nepal to complete the constitution writing and peace process, Gachchhadar said.
The Indian prime minister also expressed concern over cross-border crime and stressed the need to combat such crime.
Gachchhadar also met Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony on Wednesday. He said he requested India to help the Nepal Army in terms of non-lethal military hardware and to repair Indian-donated helicopters.
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