Nepal parties discuss agenda for Narendra Modi's visit

KATHMANDU: Leaders of three major political parties in Nepal, including Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, met here today and discussed the agenda to make the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi a success.

"The meeting mainly discussed agenda to be put forward from Nepali side during the proposed visit, necessary preparations for making the visit a success and various other works relating to the visit," according to Nepali Congress Vice-president Ram Chandra Poudyal.

Modi is scheduled to arrive here on August 3 on a two-day visit at the invitation of Koirala.

"We discussed matters relating to what type of understanding and agreements are to be reached during the high-level meeting and how to make the visit a success," he told PTI.

"The government needs to do necessary home works for the visit and concerned ministries will be directed to make preparations," he said.

The meeting decided to ask ministries of Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Commerce, Finance to send their respective proposals, he said.

Besides Prime Minister Koirala, Nepali Congress leaders Sher Bahadur Deuba, Ram Chandra Poudyal, CPN-UML leaders Jhala Nath Khanal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Maoist chief Prachanda, UCPN (Maoist) leader Baburam Bhattarai were present during the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) led by hardliner Mohan Baidhya, a breakaway faction of the UCPN-M, said they were willing to talk to Modi. Earlier, the party had been opposing the visit alleging that the visits of Modi and Sushma Swaraj were aimed at capturing Nepal's natural resources.

"We are not going to oppose the visit but in fact we want to talk with Indian PM Modi," C P Gajurel, CPN-M vice-chairman, said.