Three major political parties of Nepal, at a meeting here chaired by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, Monday decided to make the upcoming visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Himalayan nation a grand success.
The meeting also discussed the preparations for the visit and discussed ways on how to make it a success, party leaders said after the meeting.
Chaired by Prime Minister Koirala, the meeting had top brass from Nepali Congress (NC), Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML) and United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) attending.
Indian Prime Minister Modi is arriving here Sunday on a two-day official visit accompanied by a 101-member delegation including seven ministers, senior government officials, and captains of industry besides journalists.
Nepal is keenly awaiting the visit by an Indian prime minister that is taking place after 17 years.
External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj made a three-day visit to Nepal last week to lay the ground for the prime ministerial visit. To build a national consensus ahead of the visit so that any controversy can be avoided, Nepal's political parties have set the tone for the visit which will also signify how Nepal is giving importance to it.
According to NC vice president Ram Chandra Poudel, leaders of the three parties sought further consolidation of bilateral relations with India and decided to sit again to finalise the agenda of the visit.
A team of Indian security and protocol division of the external affairs ministry have already assessed the security situation where Modi will be staying during his two-day visit and other places where he will be visiting.
Monday's meeting also concluded that the visit of Sushma Swaraj was highly successful and in the same spirit, the visit of the Indian prime minister should be conducted, said Poudel.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) led by hardliner Mohan Baidhya, a breakaway faction of the UCPN-M, Monday said they were willing to talk to Modi. Earlier, the party had been opposing the visit alleging that the visits of Modi and Sushma Swaraj were aimed at capturing Nepal's natural resources.
"We are not going to oppose the visit but in fact we want to talk with Indian PM Modi," C.P. Gajurel, CPN-M vice-chairman, said.
(Anil Giri can be contacted at girianil@gmail.com)
