Indian envoy meets Nepal`s opposition leaders

Amid a political deadlock in Nepal, Indian Ambassador Jayant Prasad held consultations with senior leaders of the main opposition NC.

Kathmandu: Amid a political deadlock in Nepal, Indian Ambassador Jayant Prasad held consultations with senior leaders of the main opposition NC to discuss current situation in this country and matters pertaining to bilateral ties.

Prasad had a meeting with Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala at the opposition leader`s residence at Maharajgunj on the outskirts of Kathmandu yesterday, NC sources said today.

The current political situation in Nepal and matters relating to Nepal-India relations mainly figured during their talks, they said.

The Indian envoy inquired about the ongoing political deadlock in the country, the sources said.

During the meeting, Koirala told Prasad that the Nepali Congress was ready to cooperate in building consensus and ending the current political stalemate in the country, whose Constituent Assembly was dissolved on May 27.

Koirala said that NC was ready to work for safeguarding democracy and human rights.

Before holding talks with Koirala, Prasad met NC Vice Chairman Ramchandra Poudyal, who told the Indian envoy that his party was working for building political consensus to resolve the crisis.

Poudyal referred to the NC`s demand for resignation of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai as a starting point for building consensus and hoped that the political impasse would soon be resolved in the country.

"The present (Maoist) government has no legitimacy to continue at this juncture and the demand for the Prime Minister`s resignation was for paving way to form a national consensus government, which can only resolve the crisis," said Poudyal.

Prasad, during the meeting, said India was ready to help Nepal to find a way out of the crisis, according to NC sources.

Nepal has been in a grip of political uncertainty after the Constituent Assembly was dissolved without promulgating the Constitution. Opposition parties, including Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, have intensified pressure on Bhattarai to step down, saying they cannot participate in the November 22 elections unilaterally announced by the caretaker Prime Minister breaching the interim Constitution.

PTI

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