Sujata Koirala meets Indian PM

New Delhi, December 14:

Senior politburo member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist Sitaram Yechuri has said that the constituent assembly election should be held in Nepal soon to give legitimacy to the political and peace process at the international level.

Speaking at an interaction being organised at New Delhi-based Press Club of India today, he said: “The CA election should be held in three to four months.” He also urged the political parties in Nepal not to view the election in terms of just winning or losing seats. He said everyone should focus on drafting the new constitution.

Saying that the constitution assembly election can be held within April next year, Yechuri said the first session of the CA should declare a republic. On the occasion, Yechuri also presented his road-map aimed at ending the political deadlock.

Political exercise of parties at a meeting held in Kathmandu today has shown that Nepal is heading towards a new political direction, Yechuri said. Referring to attempts made by some MPs from the Tarai to form a new party, he said it is more natural for a new political party to come up during the transition period. “However, not all survive the race. Some disappear in the process,” he said.

Meanwhile, NC central member Sujata Koirala today met India’s Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Janata Dal-United president Sharad Yadav in New Delhi, separately. Koirala declined to divulge the details of the meetings, but sources said she met the leaders at the behest of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.

She said: “I am on good terms with Foreign Minister Mukherjee and talked to him and the other Indian leaders about Nepal’s situation.” She said she came here in connection with the publication of a book on PM Koirala’s life and times.