Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said India stands by the efforts of Nepal and its people towards logically concluding their peace process and the drafting of the constitution for a multi-party democracy, as he met a wide spectrum of political leaders here. Mr Mukherjee, who is on a day-long visit to Nepal, met Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, besides all major political leaders, including Maoist supremo Prachanda, CPN-UML president Jhala Nath Khanal and Nepali Congress president Sushil Koirala. He also called on President Ram Baran Yadav.
After meeting Mr Bhattarai, Mr Mukherjee said: “India stands by the efforts of the people and government of Nepal to logically conclude the peace process and finalise drafting of the Constitution”.
“We want that the peace process and the constitution drafting process should be finalised so that after long struggle people of Nepal have created an atmosphere where multi-party democracy can function effectively,” he said.
Welcoming the seven-point agreement reached among the political parties under the initiative of Mr Bhattarai, the finance minister said: “We are confident that people of Nepal would be in a position through the representation of their respective political parties to come to the logical end of the peace process and drafting of a new Constitution.” During his meeting with Nepali Congress president Koirala and former Prime Minister and NC leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, Mr Mukherjee said India wants to see how Nepal’s democratisation process can be consolidated and the Constitution-making process be expedited.