PM Modi speaks with Nepal PM-in-waiting KP Sharma Oli

PM Modi on Thursday had a telephonic conversation with KP Sharma Oli.

File photo (PTI)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday had a telephonic conversation with KP Sharma Oli, who is poised to become Nepal's new Prime Minister and is viewed as leaning towards China.

Modi also spoke with former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', Chairman, Communist Party of Nepal-MC, and with current Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, President of Nepali Congress.

"Prime Minister had a telephonic conversation with K.P. Sharma Oli, Chariman, Communist Party of Nepal-UML, also with Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', Chairman, Communist Party of Nepal-MC, and also with Sher Bahadur Deuba, President of Nepali Congress and the present Prime Minister," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in his weekly media briefing here.

Kumar could not share details of what transpired in the conversation.

Oli is set to become Prime Minister after the Leftist alliance mustered two-thirds majority in the parliamentary and provincial elections in Nepal.

On Tuesday, Oli had paid a surprise visit to Nepal's border with China in Rasuwagadhi and inspected the only trade and transit point between the two countries. During his earlier stint as Prime Minister in 2015, he had been critical of India and was seen as close to China.