Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, May 25:

A prominent Indian daily today claimed that top Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai met Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat last week.

The Times of India, in a report in today’s edition, said that Bhattarai held discussions with Karat and also sought his party’s support for the Maoist movement. It also claimed that the meeting between Bhattarai and Karat was facilitated by the intelligence agencies.

On his part, Karat wanted to know from Bhattarai how the Maoists see future events unfolding in Nepal.

Bhattarai, in turn, admitted to the fast-widening gulf between him and Maoist supremo, Prachanda.

The report also claimed that Bhattarai had stepped up his networking in India following his split with Prac-handa. “While Bhattarai clai-med to be in command and said that he, along with Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Kishan Pyakural, have been asked to talk to Indian auth-orities and other Nepali political parties, it is clear that he has lost out in the leadership struggle,” the report quoted sources as saying.

Meanwhile, the Indian Embassy here said that India’s position on the Maoist rebels remains unchanged. The embassy spokesman Sanjay Verma said that India believes that Maoists should give up violence and join Nepal’s political mainstream. “As for The Times of India report, we have no information about it,” he added.

Another Indian newspaper, in the meantime, reported that New Delhi has decided to restrict its military aid to RNA to just non-lethal supplies.

The Indian Express reported Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to have given update on the recent developments in Nepal at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security yesterday. It said that the Indian Army has been taking up RNA’s case for resuming military supplies and underlined the importance of the institutional links that exist between both armies.