PM to Attend Modi’s Swearing-In in Delhi

Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is set to lead a five-member delegation to New Delhi this afternoon to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Joining him are his daughter Ganga Dahal, Minister of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Padam Giri, Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal, and other senior officials. Modi will be taking his oath for a third term this evening. Following the ceremony, Dahal and Modi are scheduled to meet tonight, as confirmed by the Nepalese Embassy in New Delhi. Prime Minister Dahal is expected to return to Nepal tomorrow.

He briefed President Ram Chandra Poudel about his visit during a meeting on Saturday. The cabinet decided on Thursday that Dahal would attend Modi’s swearing-in. This follows Dahal’s official visit to India in May. In 2014, then Prime Minister Sushil Koirala attended Modi’s first swearing-in. Modi’s ‘Neighborhood First’ policy has seen South Asian leaders invited to such ceremonies.

According to the Times of India, Presidents Ranil Wickremesinghe of Sri Lanka and Mohamed Muizzu of the Maldives, Vice-President Ahmed Afif of Seychelles, and Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth of Mauritius, and Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan are also attending the ceremony.