KATHMANDU: Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli is scheduled to visit India early next month as India gears up to mend ties with its Himalayan neighbour that is seen as increasingly drifting towards China.
In his new tenure, Oli, who has visited India earlier during his previous stint as Prime Minister, will be embarking on a trip to New Delhi first and not Beijing, for now. India sees this as a “strategic move” as also a major rapprochement from Nepal’s side despite much tension that has crept between Nepal’s Left parties and the Indian government, sources told BusinessLine.
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“The visit assumes significance because it comes at a time when India is trying to mend ties post the 2015 border blockade, following the Madhesi unrest. Bitterness in the bilateral ties had also crept in after the ruling Left alliance in Nepal, which has strong connections with China, swept the elections,” said a top official.
Despite mounting tensions, it was India that took the first step towards thawing of ties in its effort to assert the importance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Neighbourhood First” policy.
Just as Oli’s name got finalised as the Prime Minister of the Himalayan Kingdom, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj made a surprise visit there, in February 2018, and held a one-on-one meeting with him.
Modi spoke to Oli twice post his massive win in the Parliamentary elections and told him that India is looking forward to taking bilateral ties ahead with the new government.
