By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS,
Kathmandu : Nepal’s new Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal is keen to make a state visit to India before May 28, the deadline by which his government has to promulgate a new constitution or face a constitutional crisis.
“Both Nepal and India would like the state visit to take place before that and we are doing the homework for the prime ministerial visit,” said Milan Tuladhar, the Nepal’s premier’s foreign affairs advisor.
In the first week of May, the Nepali prime minister will be attending a conference of least developed countries in Turkey. If the India visit does not materialise before that, Turkey will be his first port of call abroad since assuming office.
“However, it will be a working visit,” Tuladhar said. “We would like a state visit to India before that; still, if it doesn’t transpire, there is no compulsion.”
Diplomatic ties between India and Nepal remain on hold even two months after Khanal became the country’s new prime minister with the nascent government still unable to appoint a foreign minister.
After days of dithering and power-sharing rows with his only ally in the ruling coalition, the Maoists, and regional party Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Nepal, which has shown a desire to join the government, Khanal finally expanded his fledgling eight-member cabinet Monday night.
However, the addition of 12 new ministers neither ended the political row nor resolved the diplomatic deadlock.
All the new ministers are from Khanal’s own party, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, with both the Maoists and the Forum still clamouring for the ministries of their choice, including home and foreign affairs.
The Forum is reportedly demanding the foreign ministry, resulting in Khanal unable to name his new foreign minister despite the expansion.
The delay caused Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna to defer his proposed visit to Nepal.
“The Indian minister was expected to visit mid-March,” Tuladhar told IANS. “However, internal issues in Nepal as well as the domestic situation in India caused a delay.”
Tuladhar however says that the absence of a foreign minister is not likely to affect the Indian minister’s visit to Nepal.
“The government will assign a minister for the visit,” he said.
Bhutanese prime minister L.J.Y. Thinley will be the first high-ranking foreign leader to visit Nepal during the tenure of the Khanal government.
Thinley will visit Nepal for three days from April 14 for consultations regarding the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, which has its secretariat in Nepal.
India is keen to have a high-level visit before the May 28 deadline.
New Delhi had been urging Nepal’s political parties to promulgate the new constitution by the stipulated deadline.
However, with less than 50 days left for the onerous task and the major political parties still showing no signs of consensus, there are rumours that the government may try to extend the deadline a second time.
Khanal himself said in a public programme Monday that the current parliament, which is also entrusted with drafting the new statute, will not be dissolved till the task was accomplished.
(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at [email protected])