Nepal Prez seeks India`s help in peace process, eco dev

Shirish B Pradhan
Kathmandu, Feb 14 (PTI) Ahead of his crucial visit to
New Delhi, President Dr Ram Baran Yadav Sunday asked India to
help Nepal in the early completion of the landmark peace
process and bring about economic prosperity in the country.
"The aim of my visit to India as the first president
of Nepal is to promote our national interest, to further
bilateral relations and to seek cooperation for our peace
process and economic development," Yadav told PTI ahead of his
maiden 4-day official tour from February 15.
Yadav, a popular Nepali Congress party leader from the
Madhesi community living in the Terai plains bordering India,
was chosen as the country's first president when the
601-member Constituent Assembly abolished the monarchy in May
2008.
68-year-old India-educated President said his visit is
aimed at seeking New Delhi's help and goodwill for the early
conclusion of the peace process and to draft the constitution
on time as well as to receive India's continuous assistance
for attaining economic prosperity in the country.
Yadav, who spent around 14 years in India, mostly in
Kolkata, and Chandigarh, while studying medicine, has been
inspired by great Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi,
Jawaharlal Nehru and Jayprakash Narayan.
Praising India's role in his country, he said it has
always taken the side of the people in every important events
in our history.
"India has always taken the side of the people in
every important events in our history, be it the democratic
revolution of 1950 or People's Movements of 1990 and 2006," he
underlined in an interview. (MORE) PTI