India’s main opposition Indian National Congress has urged the Narendra Modi government to resolve the boundary dispute with Nepal urgently.

Issuing a statement on Wednesday, Anand Sharma, chairperson of the All Indian Congress Committee’s Foreign Affairs Department, said: “It is regrettable that the present impasse has reached a stage, which has strained the friendly relationship. This needs to be addressed urgently.”

Nepal and India are at odds over Kalapani, Lipulkeh and Limpiyadhura in Nepal’s north-western frontier. Tensions flared up after India last month announced a road link via Lipulekh, prompting Nepal to lodge a strong protest and then publish a new political map showing the territory within its borders.

Both sides have stressed dialogue but it has not materialised yet.

“Nepal and India have an established bilateral mechanism to resolve any dispute and differences through negotiations,” said Sharma, also a former state minister for external affairs.

Sharma stated that India always respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nepal.

“Both countries have successfully settled 98 percent of common border issues. There is an expressed willingness of both sides to settle the disputes in the same spirit of close friendship and mutual trust,” said Sharma.

“The Congress party is of a considered view that diplomacy and negotiations must be given chance to resolve the present issue.”

Nepal and India in 2007 prepared joint strip maps of their entire border besides Susta and Kalapani, and assigned in 2014 the two areas to be demarcated by a foreign secretary-level mechanism.

Sharma, however, failed to mention both these incidents in the statement. The recent developments in Nepal-India relations and the dispute over the Kalapani-Lipulekh area, following the publication of a new map by Nepal depicting the area as Nepalese territory is a matter of national concern, he noted, ignoring the facts of the recent opening of an 80-km road by the Indian side and New Delhi depicting the contested territory in its map.

The opinion in India is divided on how to deal with boundary disputes with Nepal among the government level, strategic circle, civil society and the media.

Sharma also suggested that the Modi government brief the political parties of India on what is happening in relation to the country’s Nepal affairs.

In view of the seriousness of the issue and the significance of India-Nepal relations, the Congress party demanded that the Government of India take the nation into confidence, and brief the leadership of the political parties, as is expected in a parliamentary democracy.

The Congress leader stressed the historic and time-tested relationship between the two countries marked by mutual respect, friendship and trust.

“The strong cultural ties and shared traditions between the people of India and Nepal make the relationship unique and special. Both the countries have invested enormously in nurturing and promoting a strategic partnership recognising and respecting each other's sensitivities.”