Nepal announces state visit of Prachanda to India

Kathmandu: Nepal on Monday announced the four-day state visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' to India from Thursday -- his first foreign visit after taking over as prime minister last month.

Prachanda is paying a state visit on the invitation of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, said a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement.

The Prime Minister will be accompanied by his spouse, Sita Dahal. He will be staying at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi as the State Guest of the Government of India.

Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat who is currently in New Delhi in preparation for the high-level visit, will accompany the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister will attend a reception to be hosted by the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi on Thursday. 

On Friday, he will attend a Ceremonial Reception and inspect a Guard of Honour at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. He will then pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. 

On the same day, Prime Minister Prachanda will call on Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, and hold official meeting with Indian Prime Minister Modi. Some senior Cabinet members of the Government of India will call on Prachanda on the same day. 

During the visit, Dahal will inspect the Nathpa Jhakri Hydropower Project in Himachal Pradesh and visit Patanjali Yogpeeth and its industrial/manufacturing units in Haridwar.

According to the statement, Prachanda is also to interact with the intellectual circle and business community in New Delhi as well as with the Nepali community in India during the visit. The PM and his delegation will return home on Sunday.

According to the statement, Ramesh Lekhak, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Members of the Legislature-Parliament, Secretaries and other officials from different Ministries, media persons and representatives of business community will also be part of the delegation.

Announcement of the visit comes as Nepal Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat met his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj at New Delhi on Monday.

Mahat, who is in New Delhi to prepare the ground for the first foreign visit of the Prime Minister, discussed issues related to Prachanda's visit and other bilateral issues during the meeting.

Mahat also met some political leaders in New Delhi during the visit. These include Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Nationalist Congress Party general secretary D.P. Tripathi, Janata Dal (United) secretary KC Tyagi, Vijay Pratap of Socialist Font, among other leaders, the Kathmandu Post reported.

Mahat is to discuss about implementation of Pancheswor Project, solution to Nepal's energy crisis and other energy-related issues with Indian Power Minister Piyush Goyal. 

He is to also meet Indian Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari to discuss construction of the Postal Road.

He returns home on Tuesday.

Prachanda was Prime Minister earlier from 2008 to 2009.