India keeps safe distance from Nepal turmoil

NEW DELHI: India is looking for an opening in Nepal to improve bilateral political relations after almost a year of turbulence following Maoist chief Prachanda’s decision to withdraw support from the K P Oli regime and form government with backing of Nepali Congress (NC).

Mandarins of the Indian foreign policy are closely observing the developments in the Himalayan state where a no-confidence motion was filed on Wednesday against the Oli government in Parliament by the Maoists and the Nepali Congress (NC).

However, a cautious Modi government is yet to formally react, given the past experience where an experiment by the same combine failed and Oli had withdrawn Nepal’s envoy and cancelled the President’s visit to Delhi blaming India for the initiative to topple him.

“Whatever is happening in Nepal is their internal development,” is all a person familiar with the matters would offer. However, Oli’s exit brings a hope to improve Indo-Nepal relations and possibility to address the political demands of the Madheshis from the Terai region of the Himalayan state.

However, the biggest challenge remains in getting two-thirds support in the Parliament for Constitutional amendments to meet demands of Madheshis. And the Prachanda-led government needs some smart political engineering to pass the amendments.

Prachanda ascendency to the hot seat could also see Kathmandu’s balancing act between Beijing and Delhi, after Oli reportedly cozied up with China over the past year.