Kathmandu, August 27 :

US-watchers are of the view that the US does not have any fixed position on Nepali monarchy and it will go with the choice of the people.

“What I have been time and again told is: We will respect the choice of the people. That will be reflected in the composition of the constituent assembly. This is appreciable,” CPN-UML leader Jhala Nath Khanal told The Himalayan Times. However, he added that “the US could have its interests too.” He did not elaborate.

Nepali Congress (NC) leader Narahari Acharya linked the growing US interest in Nepal to its “geostrategic” importance. “China is rising very fast. She is a potential big rival. Presence in Nepal will mean a lot,” Acharya said.

He added that the US realised the importance of Nepal at the end of the Cold War in 1990. “Monarchy is not a big issue for them. But the consolidation of the Left is.”

The person who said that US does not have a position on monarchy is former diplomat, Dr Jairaj Acharya. “They (US) do not have a position on monarchy. This is something I have learned in interactions with a US diplomat recently,” Dr Acharya said.

He also made it clear that US diplomats are known for their forthright views which “should be read the way they are.”

He downplayed the fairly regular arrival of Senators and Congressmen as something which is “routine at time when there may be political turbulence.

But NC (D) General Secretary Bimalendra Nidhi categorically said that while the US is certainly backing a democratic system, it is also looking for a role “we also don’t know why.”