Tibetan Review
November 2, 2010

After having attacked India at every available
opportunity, Nepal’s Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal
Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is now to try to improve
relations with India because he has been so
advised by his Chinese supporters, according to
reports in the country’s media Oct 31.

In an interview with The Kathmandu Post and
Kantipur dailies after his recent China trip,
Prachanda talked about a “strategic tripartite
partnership” involving India, China and Nepal. He
also indicated a possible visit to New Delhi
after his party’s plenum, scheduled for Nov 21, to clear differences.

He was reported to have disclosed that during his
recent China trip, he was advised by Chinese
leaders to better relations with India, Nepal’s
southern neighbour. “Some people are trying to
portray that we are siding with China and are
against India. But that is not true,” the
Kantipur report quoted him as claiming.

He had sought to place his past anti-India
tirades in context by saying, “Sometimes we need
to address problems from the streets and
sometimes sitting across a table. Now we want to
sit across a table and discuss.”

But given Prachanda’s past records of vacillating
positions on the issue, Indian officials were
reported to have given a guarded response to the
interview. Prachanda has also been accusing India
of thwarting his attempts to regain the Prime
Minister’s post although the country’s internal
political differences responsible for the failure
to elect a Prime Minister since Jun’10 was all too well known.