EVEN AS India's special envoy to Nepal, Karan Singh, gets ready for his audience with King Gyanendra on Thursday, defence minister Pranab Mukherjee said that India favoured a multi-party constitutional monarchy in the Himalayan kingdom.
Speaking to mediapersons in Kolkata on Wednesday, Mukherjee said India would like Nepal to abide by the 1990 constitution. The Indian stance may give some leeway to the king as it goes against the demand of the Seven Party Alliance (SPA), which wants the abolition of monarchy.
The SPA has called for the establishment of a multi-party parliamentary democracy. CPI(M) veteran Harkishen Singh Surjeet, who is also heading the Nepal Democracy Solidarity Committee in India, said in Delhi that those who cherished democratic values should support the Nepalese.