Lamichhane will travel to New Delhi on 18 Jestha for a three-day visit at the invitation of the Indian government, but the government has no official information.
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Rastriya Swatantra Party President Ravi Lamichhane is set to visit New Delhi on 18 Jestha for a three-day official visit at the invitation of the Indian government. Lamichhane is set to visit Delhi at a time when tensions are rising between Kathmandu and Delhi. However, neither side has made a formal announcement about the visit. The Nepal government has also stated that it is not officially aware of Lamichhane's visit.
Lamichhane is set to visit India before any official visits at the high government level from either side. According to sources in Kathmandu and Delhi, during the visit, Lamichhane is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Nitin Naveen, among others.
An official from the ministry told the Kathmandu Post that neither side has made a formal announcement about the visit and the RSVP has not officially coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to manage the visit. According to sources, a meeting has been proposed between Lamichhane and Modi on 19 Jestha. The meeting is said to give both sides an opportunity to understand each other and expand relations in the changed political environment in Kathmandu. However, according to analysts in Delhi, Lamichhane's visit is not seen as an alternative to the visit of the Nepali Prime Minister, as the BJP leadership and senior officials of the Indian government and security agencies are aware of the differences in the working styles of Prime Minister Balendra Shah and Lamichhane.
'Although the RSVP is a new party, it won a large majority in the recent elections. That is why Delhi wants to establish contact with the RSVP leadership and government,' a source in Delhi told the Post. 'The visit is part of a plan to develop high-level contacts with the new leadership of Nepal. This cannot be linked to the recent bilateral tensions,' the source added.
RSVP President Lamichhane's visit is coming against the backdrop of the postponement of Indian Foreign Secretary Misri's visit to Kathmandu and the escalating border dispute. Earlier, Foreign Secretary Misri was scheduled to visit Kathmandu on 28 Baisakh to understand the priorities of the new government. During a visit to Mauritius on 10 April, during a meeting between Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, it was agreed to send Misri to Kathmandu. During the meeting, Misri was scheduled to meet the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Finance Minister and other senior officials while in Kathmandu.
However, the border dispute between Nepal and India escalated even before Misri's visit. In addition, Misri's visit was canceled after Prime Minister Shah refused to meet foreign representatives below the protocol level. Amidst these developments, Delhi had invited Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) President Lamichhane for a visit. Which had been postponed earlier. The visit is scheduled to take place on 18 Jestha.
The government, however, has expressed ignorance about Lamichhane's visit to India. Government spokesperson and Education Minister Sasmit Pokharel clarified that there is no need to link Lamichhane's visit with the Prime Minister's visit. Foreign Minister Khanal had said in a conversation with Indian media persons in Mauritius that Prime Minister Shah had already accepted the invitation to visit his Indian counterpart. After that, there was talk of Misri's visit to Kathmandu and Prime Minister Shah's first foreign visit to India.
But Minister Pokharel dismissed that talk once again on Monday. When asked by journalists whether Prime Minister Shah would visit India instead, he said, "The Prime Minister will visit India at the appropriate time. He has not gone anywhere, not just India. For now, our main focus is on the government's 100-day schedule." Minister Pokharel said that party President Lamichhane is going to visit India on his own terms. "There may be an attempt to link it with the Prime Minister's visit, but there is no connection between the two," he said.
Similarly, an aide close to the Prime Minister claimed that there was no misunderstanding between Prime Minister Shah and party President Lamichhane about the visit to India. "The President is in constant contact with the Prime Minister and both are consulting," the official told The Post. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not sent any information about Lamichhane's visit to the Nepali Embassy in Delhi as of Monday evening.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary Kavindra Burlakoti said that consultations are being held with Indian government officials in Delhi regarding President Lamichhane. ‘The party is discussing the visit and consultations are also being held with Indian officials,’ he said, ‘but the contents of the visit have not been decided yet.’
According to sources, in addition to his wife Nikita Poudel, MPs Bipin Acharya and Deepak Bohara will also be in Lamichhane’s visiting team. A Delhi-based source told the Post that this visit is a continuation of the high-level political visits that were held in Kathmandu in the past. ‘Earlier, leaders including Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Sher Bahadur Deuba had also visited Delhi and held high-level political meetings. Therefore, Lamichhane’s visit should also be viewed accordingly,’ said a source close to the BJP.
Nepal affairs expert and Delhi University associate professor Nihar Nayak said that Lamichhane’s visit will strengthen Nepal-India relations at both the government and party levels. "This will give the BJP an opportunity to understand the RSP's perspective on foreign, economic and strategic issues. So far, the BJP has had relations only with established parties in Nepal.
For Lamichhane, this visit will also be an opportunity to understand the media's commentary that there is tension in bilateral relations, especially due to the diplomatic note sent by Nepal on the Lipulekh issue and the strict customs duties imposed on goods above Rs 100. At a time when Prime Minister Balen is not planning a foreign visit due to his busy schedule on domestic issues, a visit at the party level could be very meaningful in the current situation," he said.
