After meeting Bharatiya Janata Party (PJP) leaders, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh engaged with the Left parties in New Delhi on Saturday in a bid to evolve bipartisan consensus on India's foreign policy, notably with regards to sensitive diplomacy vis-a-vis Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
"The prime minister had a meeting with the leaders of Left parties including the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and CPI (Communist Party of India)," an official statement said.
"External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee briefed them on the situation in India's neighbourhood and its relations with Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka," the statement added.
The prime minister had last week met BJP leaders, including his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee, opposition leader LK Advani and former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh with the same agenda in mind.
Both meetings also came ahead of Mukherjee's scheduled visit to Islamabad next week to extend an invitation to President Pervez Musharraf to attend the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit in New Delhi in April.
The official statement made no mention of any discussion outside the "situation in India's neighbourhood" or whether ties with the US, including the contentious nuclear deal, China or other important countries were discussed.
{{/usCountry}}The official statement made no mention of any discussion outside the "situation in India's neighbourhood" or whether ties with the US, including the contentious nuclear deal, China or other important countries were discussed.
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