KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda has said that he will be paying an official visit to India soon.

This will be Prachanda’s first visit abroad after he took over the reins of  government in late December.

“I will be visiting India very soon. Preparations are being made for the same,” Prime Minister Prachanda told a select group of journalists at his official residence in Baluwatar, on Saturday. However, he did not share exact dates for his visit.

Sources at Nepal’s foreign ministry said that the two sides are in close contact to finalise the dates and agendas for the visit.

“Dates are being worked out. Most likely, the visit takes place in February. We will announce the visit at an appropriate time,” a senior Nepali official privy to this development told India Narrative on Saturday.

The official further said that the visit will be focused on cementing age-old multifaceted and civilizational ties between the two countries.

In a congratulatory letter to Prachanda last week, Indian PM Narendra Modi said that he was looking forward to welcome him in India at the earliest. He also expressed confidence that ties between the two friendly nations will be further enhanced under the leadership of Prachanda.

“Warmest congratulations @cmprachanda on being elected as the Prime Minister of Nepal. The unique relationship between India and Nepal is based on deep cultural connect and warm people-to-people ties. I look forward to working together with you to further strengthen this friendship,” Modi tweeted while extending facilitations to Prachanda on his appointment on December 25.

India’s Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava also conveyed PM Modi’s greetings to Prime Minister Prachanda last week. On the occasion, the two sides also discussed Prachanda’s forthcoming visit to New Delhi, according to sources close to the prime minister.

Prime Minister Prachanda looks enthusiastic to enhance ties with India, insiders say.

In a recent media interview, he said that he looks forward to have balanced ties with immediate neighbors India and China as well as the United States.

Talking to India’s ABP News, Prachanda said he would strive for balanced foreign relations with neighbours India and China. He vowed to strengthen Nepal’s relations with India. “We want good relations with India,” he said. “I am not against India, will forget the old disputes and move forward,” said Prachanda.

He also recalled Indian PM Modi’s congratulatory message on his appointment. “PM Narendra Modi tweeted his best wishes and talked about further strengthening the relations between India and Nepal. PM Modi is the first Prime Minister who congratulated me,” he said.

This will be Prachanda’s second visit to India in the past one year. In July last year, he visited New Delhi in the capacity of a leader of the ruling party of Nepal. He was invited by Chairperson of India’s ruling BJP Jagat Prakash Nadda. During the visit, he visited the BJP headquarters.

Prachanda, who is also the chairperson of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center), was appointed the prime minister after he abruptly broke away from the five-party ruling alliance led by the Nepali Congress.

The prime minister, who won the mandatory vote of confidence with two-third majority from the House of Representatives last week, is holding talks with partners in his government to complete shape to his cabinet by the mid of this week.

Prachanda, meaning “fierce one”, is a former rebel leader who spearheaded a decade-long bloody insurgency against the Shah monarchy since 1996 that left over 15,000 dead and ended in a 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that led to the abolition of Nepal’s 240-year monarchy.

The Maoist party joined mainstream politics in 2008 and emerged as the largest party through the country’s first Constituent Assembly elections held in the same year. He became prime minister for the first time in August 2008 and was forced to quit power in just nine months following his attempt to sack the country’s army chief Rookmangud Katwal. In 2016, he ran the government for nine months in partnership with the Congress party.

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(Santosh Ghimire is India Narrative’s Nepal correspondent based in Kathmandu)