National
Nepali Congress calls ruling party's statement on Venezuela immature and meaningless
“We can't forget that the United States has been helping Nepal in the development of physical and social infrastructure,” a Congress Party leader said.Sanjaya Lama
A meeting of the Parliamentary Party of Nepali Congress held on Sunday said that Nepal’s relations with the United States have soured due to the statement of the government and the Nepal Communist Party over Venezuela.
Issuing a statement after the meeting, Nepali Congress Chief Whip Bal Krishna Khand said that the government and Nepal Communist Party’s statement over Venezuela was immature and against the national interest.
“The Parliamentary Party meeting vehemently criticised the insensitive, immature and anti-national activities of the government and Nepal Communist Party,” the statement read. “We can't forget that the United States has been helping Nepal in the development of physical and social infrastructure.”
Talking to the media after the meeting, Khand said that Nepal should not deteriorate its relations with the United States, a country that has been helping Nepal in various sectors.
“The opinion against the United States which has been helping Nepal in the fields of health, education and transportation among others for the past 65 years is a grave mistake,” Khand said.
Earlier on January 27, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, on behalf of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, had categorically denounced what it called the United States and its allies’ “intervention in the internal affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with the intention of increasing violence by dividing the people and challenging democracy, sovereignty and peace.”
Later, the US Embassy in Nepal had sought a clarification from the government over the statement released by Dahal.
Last week, the Post reported that senior officials at the US State Department summoned the Nepali ambassador in Washington asking him to clarify Dahal's statement. Shortly after that, the government stated its official position on the political crisis in Venezuela, saying the internal problems of a country should be resolved within its constitutional parameters. US embassy officials were dissatisfied with the government's clarification as well, and called the statement "vague" and "ambitious."