Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal to visit India in late-April

Kathmandu, Nepal: The Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, often known as Prachanda, is reportedly planning to visit India on April 28, according to sources acquainted with the situation.

The date was suggested to the Nepalese government by India, according to representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal and the Prime Minister Secretariat.

The PM will travel to India for three days if the political climate in Nepal remains stable, an official from the PM Secretariat told ANI. His first trip abroad since being elected as prime minister for the second time will be this one.

The official added that both nations would make official announcements of the Prime Minister’s travel dates within a week.

“The Prime Minister also talked about the dates during his meeting with other authorities, including the newly appointed minister for foreign affairs. The PM’s visit is scheduled to begin on April 28, according to the Ministry of External Affairs,” a PM Secretariat representative informed ANI.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has made two trips to India after taking office.

After attending the Beijing Olympics’ closing ceremony in 2008, Dahal travelled to India. He returned to New Delhi in 2016 on his first trip there on official business.

According to representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), conversations are ongoing regarding, among other things, rail connections between Kathmandu and Raxaul, hydropower projects, and aviation links via Bhairahawa.

The new foreign minister of Nepal, NP Saud, was welcomed on his appointment two days ago by the minister of external affairs, S. Jaishankar.

“Congratulations on H.E. N.P. Saud’s nomination as Nepal’s foreign minister. We look forward to collaborating to improve our many-faceted cooperation. Best wishes for success in your new position, Jaishankar wrote in a tweet.

Sources claim that the decision to appoint Saud as the nation’s new foreign minister was reached on Saturday between Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba.

In the Sushil Koirala-led administration in 2014, NP Saud served as irrigation minister.

According to The Kathmandu Post, Prime Minister Dahal has been in control of the Foreign Ministry, which the Congress was given as part of a power-sharing arrangement, for the past 1.5 months.

In the meantime, Dahal added a minister of state for transport and a minister of foreign affairs for the ninth time to his Cabinet.

According to a statement from the Office of the President, Dahal swore in Nanda Chapai as the state minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport and appointed Nepali Congress politician Narayan Prasad Saud as the new foreign minister.

At a ceremony organised at the Presidential Palace in Kathmandu, both ministers received their oaths of office and confidentiality.

Earlier, on March 31, PM Prachanda reorganised the Cabinet following a pause of many weeks, at which time he could only appoint 11 ministers, including a state minister.

Given that ten parties have joined the coalition and have each put up their own demands, the Nepali Congress’ internal divisions have been held responsible for the delay in expanding the Cabinet.

The Nepalese Prime Minister has had to call for a vote of confidence twice and rearrange the Cabinet eight times in the four months since the inception of the administration. However, not all portfolios could be distributed.

Dahal was backed in the March 20 vote of confidence by ten parties that have joined the ruling coalition and are now a part of it; on Friday, he was able to add five additional parties.

PM Dahal still maintains the Ministry of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs, the Ministry of Forest and Environment, the Ministry of Health and Population, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports despite having filled the majority of the other ministries.