Kathmandu, March 13

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijay Jolly today said India and his party fully supported the Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli-led government.

Stating that the government formed for the next five years would work for the prosperity and development of Nepal as per the mandate, Jolly said India always wanted Nepal to become prosperous, developed and strong.

Jolly also refuted allegations that India had imposed a nearly five-month economic blockade on Nepal in 2015-16. “Whatever disruptions where there, they were part of Nepal’s internal political situation,” he said speaking at an interaction here. “India has always had a positive role in addressing any political impasse in Nepal.” He hoped the two countries would work to further strengthen their relations in areas such as people-to-people, trade and development.

Jolly said he was shocked to learn about the dilapidated condition of the Siddharth Highway during his first trip to western Nepal. He said the road had to be upgraded to five lanes if western Nepal was to be developed. “I will draw the attention of PM Oli, as well as of Indian PM Narendra Modi and Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari in this regard,” he said. Jolly expressed hope that the Eminent Persons Group on Nepal-India Relations would work to ensure that ‘small issues’ in Nepal-India relations were addressed.

He hoped that the EPG would work to ensure that Indians living and working in Nepal would be given facilities under which they could send their 100 per cent income to India through formal banking channels, like the facility India has provided to Nepalis working there. “Indian citizens working here are only allowed to send 65 per cent of their income to India through formal banking channels. The rest of the money is sent via hundi or other informal channels. I hope Indians too get such facilities,” he said.

He also said that many Nepalis who had demonetised Indian currency with them could not exchange them with the fresh banknotes due to various reasons, and hoped that the EPG would take up the issue. Stating that various Nepalis holding insurance policies in Indian companies could not pay premium after demonetisation, leading to freezing of the policies, Jolly expressed hope that the EPG would work to ensure that such policies were revived.