President Pranab Mukherjee’s November visit to Nepal is likely to address the differences between groups in the plains and the Kathmandu valley that had led to a months-long blockade in 2015. Preparation is under way in Janakpur, the historic city of the plains of Nepal, to welcome the President, even as a political crisis is brewing in Kathmandu between the government of Prime Minister Prachanda and the nation’s anti-corruption body.
Sources in Madhesi Morcha, the united front of political parties from the plains, said President Mukherjee’s visit to Janakpur will be symbolically important and the entire leadership of the morcha will be present to welcome him.
“Several projects that India and Nepal are discussing at present were conceived during 2006 when President Mukherjee was the External Affairs Minister of India, as he was known to be sympathetic to the needs of the Nepali citizens from all parts of the country,” said Upendra Yadav of the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal. The Presidential visit, he said, would help in speedy implementation of bilateral infrastructure projects in Nepal.
The visit, which is likely to be between November 2 and 4, comes in the backdrop of the preparatory work on the amendments to the Nepali constitution for which the Madhesis have been agitating. During the bilateral between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ in Goa on the sideline of the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach, both sides had discussed pending projects and the amendments.
Commission’s meetingAnother round of discussion is likely to take place this week on the Presidential trip when the Nepal-India Joint Commission meets in Delhi under the leadership of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart Prakash Sharan Mahat.
However, the visit of President Mukherjee and the meeting of the Joint Commission will be held in the backdrop of the brewing confrontation between the chief of the anti-corruption body, Lokman Singh Karki, and the political class of Nepal which had been under pressure from Mr. Karki-led Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). Several leading political parties, including Mr. Prachanda’s Maoist Centre, have pledged to impeach Mr. Karki who had emerged as a special centre of power, allegedly backed by the royalists and anti-government forces of Kathmandu.
