NEW DEHLI: India has intensified contacts with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan in the run-up to government formation, reported The Times of India.
The Indian mission remains in touch with senior PTI leaders who are likely to play an important role in the new government, the Times of India said quoting unnamed sources.
While the PTI campaign was not completely devoid of anti-India rhetoric, the Indian side understands that this had more to do with the rough and tumble of Pakistan politics than any antipathy of India.
Khan's party too has been appreciative of the fact that the Indian side, contrary to the popular perception in Pakistan that the Narendra Modi government wanted Nawaz Sharif's party to return to power, remained equidistant from all parties.
"They know that the Indian mission was as much in touch with PTI as with PML-N or even with PPP", said a source.
Indian officials have not ruled out the possibility of PM Modi making a congratulatory phone call, like Afghan Prez Ashraf Ghani did Sunday, to Khan in the next few days as a part of the reach out.
India closely followed Ghani's telephonic conversation with Khan in which, as the Afghan president announced on Twitter, both leaders agreed to overcome the past and to lay a new foundation "for a prosperous political, social and economic future" of both countries.
