Thursday, June 29 2006 17:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: A day ahead of his second visit to Nepal after the new Government took over, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the latest developments in the Himalayan nation.

During his two-day visit, Yechury would meet Nepalese Premier Girija Prasad Koirala and Prachanda, the General Secretary of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and other political leaders, as the interim government formation process in the country gathered steam.

The CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, who has been the interlocutor between the two sides, was not available for comments on his meeting with the Prime Minister. Later, he also met Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Favouring restoration of democracy in Nepal, India has said the roadmap to democracy, being charted out at the peace talks between the Maoists and the ruling Seven Party Alliance (SPA), should be decided by the people of that country.

Discussion on the interim Constitution of Nepal is slated to be taken up at the ongoing talks between the Koirala government and the Maoists.

Yechury is likely to press both sides to take the international community into confidence so that global legitimacy is granted to the future shape of democracy in Nepal. The Maoists are also understood to have expressed willingness to manage their arms under United Nations supervision but not ready to lay them down at this stage.

For the first time in Nepal's history, its Parliament members and ministers had yesterday taken a fresh oath of office in the absence of the King.