India usually 1st stop for Nepal PMs

Ahead of Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s visit to New Delhi in February, deputy prime minister and foreign minister Kamal Thapa said, “The preliminary preparations for the visit have been completed. India will be the first country for the PM to pay an official visit after assuming the office.”

He said Mr Oli will leave for India on an appropriate time as the preliminary preparations have been completed. The visit is expected to take place in the first week of February, sources said. Earlier, it was reported that CPN-UML leader Mr Oli, who took over as Prime Minister in October, was planning to visit China in a marked contrast to the usual practice of the new Prime Ministers of Nepal to travel to India.

Most of the Nepalese Premiers have visited India, ahead of China. Only Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ had rubbed India the wrong way when he chose China as the first destination of his foreign visit after taking over as Nepal’s Prime Minister and attended the Beijing Olympics 2008.

India had announced Rs 1,000 crore financial assistance in the form of soft loan to Nepal during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal last year and an equal amount of assistance was announced during external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj’s trip after the devastating earthquake.