The Indian envoy expressed such views during his meeting with Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the latter´s residence at Nayabazar, Wednesday morning. [break]
“Maoists are arousing anti-Indian sentiments in Nepal,” Maoist Chairman´s aide Samir Dahal quoted Sood as saying during the hour-long meeting.
Sood was referring to the Maoist outcry over the government´s decision to award India with the contract of printing Machine Readable Passport (MRPs).
Dahal replied that his party was not anti-Indian, but wanted to take the bilateral relations to a new high based on the new political change in Nepal. “It is wrong to say that we are anti-Indian. What we want is just new kind of relationship based on new political change in Nepal,” Dahal told the Indian envoy.
Besides whipping up the masses, the Maoists had called a nationwide general strike against the MRP deal, but withdraw the program after the government scrapped the deal following widespread criticism.
In his confidential letter to Nepal government, Sood himself had stated that awarding India with the MRP printing contract was not only a business deal, but it would also address some of India´s security concerns. Before the confidential letter was leaked to media, both India and Nepal had been stating that it was purely a business deal.
During the meeting, Sood also expressed concern over the peace process and constitution drafting in Nepal.
“We are holding serious talks on these issues. We will come up with solutions soon,” Dahal told Sood.
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