New Delhi: Tshering Tobgay, leader of Bhutan’s victorious People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has repeatedly stressed that India is “irreplaceable for Bhutan” and his becoming prime minister of the Himalayan country will help bring in “an element of continuity” to India-Bhutan relations that will help it prosper, says former Indian envoy Pavan
K Varma.
The opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won the elections with a massive mandate, capturing 32 seats, while the incumbent Druk Phuensum Tshogpa of former prime minister Jigmi Y Thinley, could manage just 15 seats in the 47-member National Assembly. The elections were Bhutan’s second parliamentary elections since the country became a democracy in 2008.
Varma, former Indian envoy to Bhutan, told IANS that Tobgay has “repeatedly stressed that India is irreplaceable for Bhutan, both for its internal development and its external policy.”
“And he has also said that anything that dilutes our relationship with India is undesirable. I have known Tshering Tobgay personally and I can assure you that like all governments in Bhutan, the element of continuity will be there and India and Bhutan relations should ideally strengthen and grow,” Varma, who retired from the Indian Foreign Service to become an adviser to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday congratulated Tshering Tobgay and promised India’s “steadfast and unflinching support” and assured that New Delhi will remain “sensitive to Bhutan and its interests”.
In a congratulatory message, the prime minister said that “India is a privileged partner of Bhutan and it’s people in their socio-economic progress and development...” IANS
