During a meeting with Indian foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai on Thursday at Hotel Oberio in New Delhi at 10:15 am, the UML senior leader discussed a range of bilateral issues between the two countries. [break]
"As Nepal is heading for new elections to the Constituent Assembly, we need cooperation and support from our international friends including India to hold the polls in a free, fair and peaceful environment," Rajan Bhattarai, a member of the party´s foreign affairs department, said in a statement after the meeting.
Stating that Nepal´s top priorities are construction of roads, communication and electricity are our top priorities, Nepal asked Indian side for speeding up the construction of Terai Hulaki Road, seek India´s assistance to construct Dolalghat Dhankuta portion of Mid-Hill Highway, speeding up the work of Mahakali (Pancheshwor) Project, speeding up the work of Mujjaffarpur-Dhalkebar Transmission lines, concrete steps need to be taken to move on Bagmati Civilisation Project (a comprehensive project to clean Bagmati and other tributaries rivers of Kathmandu Valley), according to the statement.
Similarly, General Secretary of the Indian Nationalist Congress Party, D P Tripathi met leader Nepal. During the meeting, Tripathi, appreciated the former Nepali prime minister as well as his party´s role in Nepali politics for adopting "coordinated approach and flexible stance to find out solutions to Nepal´s ongoing political and social transformation".
A member of the Lokh Sabha representing India´s ruling Congress, Sajjan Singh Burma met leader Nepal and shared his views on bilateral relations between the two countries, says the statement. Bhattarai and party General Secretary Ishwor Pokhrel were also present in the meetings. According to Bhattarai, Nepal is meeting with Indian Prime Minister Dr Manamohan Singh at 10:30 am Friday.
Nepal embarked on a visit to India a day earlier. He is scheduled to return home on July 29. UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba visited India in the recent past.
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