India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has congratulated Jhalanath Khanal, his newly-elected
counterpart in Nepal, for being chosen as the next head of the government of the neighbouring country.
The Prime Minister called Khanal on Thursday evening, soon after he was elected by Nepal's Constituent Assembly as the next prime minister, ending a seven-month deadlock over the formation of a new government.
Khanal, 60, is the leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), and he was elected with crucial support of the CPN-Maoist whose chief Prachanda quit the race at the last minute to enable the former's election.
The country has been without a government since the June 30 resignation of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal under intense Maoist pressure. The standoff has delayed the drafting of a new constitution and conclusion of the peace process.
India has extended support to Nepal's Constitution- drafting process.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao last month visited the country where she met the top leadership and said India wants to see a stable, peaceful and developed Nepal.
The political crisis has been damaging for Nepal, which is still reeling from a decade of civil war that ended in 2006.