Miscellaneous
Nidhi’s agenda: Fixing dates for high-level engagements
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bimalendra Nidhi’s visit to India will focus on enhancing ties between two countries and fixing dates for high-level visits between two countries, officials and experts have said.Kamal Dev Bhattarai
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Bimalendra Nidhi’s visit to India will focus on enhancing ties between two countries and fixing dates for high-level visits between two countries, officials and experts have said.
Nidhi, who is coming on Thursday on a four-day visit as a special envoy of the new government under CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal, is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Pranab Mukharjee, Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other high-level government officials. He is also meeting with President of the ruling Bharatiya Janapati Party (BJP) Amit Shah.
Nidhi will convey a message that the Dahal-led government is ready to mend strained relations between the two countries and that efforts are underway to address the demands of Madhes-based parties.
Mahendra P Lama, a member of Eminent Persons ‘Group, a mechanism formed to review the bilateral mechanism between the two countries, said that such visits should yield concrete results. “If there is a concrete result, bilateral relations will take a new height,” he said.
His meetings in New Delhi are likely to centred around the demands raised by the Madhes-based parties. Since the promulgation of new constitution, India is pushing Nepal’s political parties to address the demands of
the agitating parties in
the sourthern plains, mainly the issues related to
demarcation.
Ahead of Nidhi departure for Delhi, a Cabinet meeting on Thursday will discuss
the possible agendas of PM Dahal’s upcoming India visit.
“I think government will convey the message that the Madhes crisis should be resolved as soon as possible through constitution amendment, along with addressing the demands of Janajatis,” said Nihar R Nayak, an expert on Nepal-India relations, who is associated with Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis.
“Implementation of constitution, enhancing bilateral ties are the other agenda that the Indian government is likely to suggest to special envoy and Home Minister Nidhi,” he said.
Hopes are high among officials and experts here that issues related to Madhes will be resolved as Nidhi himself is supporting those agenda raised by the Madhes-based parties.
Another prominent agenda of Nidhi’s trip is PM Dahal’s visit to India, with September 15 and 16 being set as tentative date. “The official decision regarding Nepal PM’s visit will be finalised during Nidhi’s visit,” said an official.
Also on the table will be agenda regarding Indian President Pranab Mukharjee’s plan visit to Nepal in October and Nepal’s President Bidhya Devi Bhandari’s visit to India.
Earlier, Bhandari’s India visit scheduled in May was cancelled.
Ajit Kumar, a member of BJP, said India’s message would be institutionalisation of democracy which is a biggest challenge for Nepal. “Space should be given to all sections of the population,” he said, referring to the demands of Madhes-based parties and Janajatis.