Thursday, September 29 2005 19:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kathmandu: The visiting political delegation from India today (Sept 29, 2005) expressed solidarity with Nepal's seven-party alliance fighting King Gyanendra's rule, even as a senior Nepalese leader said the struggle for restoration of democracy will be fought solely by the people of the Kingdom.

Nepal's struggle for restoration of democracy will be fought solely by the Nepalese people themselves but they will need moral support from the international community including India for its success, said Girija Prasad Koirala, Nepali Congress President and a main leader of the alliance, during discussions with the five-party delegation.

The Indian leaders including Communist Party of India Marxist's (CPM) Sitaram Yechuri, Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) DP Tripathi and Communist Party of India's (CPI) D Raja, who are here on a three-day visit, said Indian people are with Nepalese people's movement for restoration of democracy and extended solidarity to the movement.

Koirala also said the seven parties have been working to intensify their pro-democracy movement and it is gaining momentum, Nepali Congress central member Krishna Sitaula, one of the participants at the meeting, told sources.

During the meeting both the delegates also stressed the need for strengthening party-to-party relations between the two countries to consolidate people level relations.

Besides Koirala, they met Nepal Communist Party-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepali Congress (Democratic) acting President Gopal Man Shrestha, Nepal Sadbhavana Party acting President Bharat Bimala Yadav, Janamorcha Nepal leader Himlal Puri and United Left Front chairman CP Mainali.

Yechuri also extended invitation to the seven party leaders to visit India at the earliest.

He said the Indian leaders are here to assess the situation and they will take the matter with their respective parties at home and chalk out future plan for extending cooperation.

Earlier, the Indian delegates met Koirala, Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) General Secretary Nepal and Nepali Congress (D) acting president Gopal Man Shrestha separately and discussed the current political situation.