New Delhi:

India on Thursday declined to comment on the internal political situation in the Maldives.

The island nation has been in political turmoil, with the main opposition Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) planning to impeach President Mohamed Muizou over the way his government has handled certain thorny issues.

“These are internal matters of the Maldives and we do not want to comment on them,” foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said.

He answered questions about the political situation in the Maldives at a media briefing.

The Democratic Progressive Party announced plans to impeach the president after pro-government and opposition lawmakers clashed in parliament on Sunday over the approval of four Muizu cabinet members.

Muizou, 45, defeated India-friendly incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in a presidential runoff last September.

There have been some tensions in relations between India and the Maldives since he came to power in November.

Muizu is widely seen as a pro-China leader and insisted after taking office that he would keep his election promise to expel Indian military personnel from his country.

Last month, the Maldives president asked India to withdraw all Indian military personnel deployed in the island nation by March 15, even as the two sides held their first “high-level caucus” meeting in Male to mainly discuss contentious issues.

When asked about the visit of a Chinese survey ship to the Maldives, Jaiswal said that India always pays close attention to developments that affect its economic and security interests.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)