New Delhi: The chair of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), Pushpa Kamal Dahal or ‘Prachanda’, will be visiting India Friday on the invitation of BJP national president J.P. Nadda.
According to Vijay Chauthaiwale, in charge of BJP’s foreign affairs department, Dahal will visit the BJP headquarters in New Delhi Sunday morning.
“He [Dahal] is visiting India on the invitation of Nadda ji and will visit the party headquarters Sunday. This is part of our ‘Know BJP’ initiative as one of the aspects of this is to engage with other political parties and we want to have good relations with all political parties in Nepal,” Chauthaiwale told ThePrint.
The BJP had launched ‘Know BJP’ — an outreach initiative — on its foundation day (6 April) earlier this year.
According to sources, before his visit to the BJP HQ, Dahal will spend two days interacting with Indian leaders, including External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar and National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval.
“A final list of dignitaries is being prepared and will be shared soon,” said a senior BJP leader.
Dahal will likely be given a tour of the BJP headquarters and will meet other senior party leaders during his visit to India.
A former two-term Prime Minister of Nepal, Dahal is an influential communist leader who enjoys close and personal ties with political leaders in India, which has traditionally supported the ruling Nepali Congress.
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Sparring Left parties in Nepal
Dahal has been invited in an effort to “assess” the extent of Chinese “interference” in Nepal’s domestic politics, with Beijing leaving no stone unturned to work towards a “Left unity” that New Delhi is “not comfortable” with, sources told ThePrint.
According to sources, India is not averse to a coalition between former PM K.P.S. Oli and sitting PM Sher Bahadur Deuba, and the visit by Prachanda could perhaps be a signal that New Delhi is trying to keep communication channels open with all prominent leaders of the Himalayan nation.
Sources also said that New Delhi is hoping to see a Deuba-Oli alliance rather than a Prachanda-led coalition in power in Nepal.
Dahal’s visit comes within days of a high-level Chinese delegation’s trip to Kathmandu. Led by Liu Jianchao, head of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the delegation visited Nepal with an aim to unite the sparring Left parties there.
“This [Prachanda’s visit] is a welcome development and it is very important that all political leaders across the entire spectrum engage with India both at the government as well as the party level,” said Ranjit Rae, former Indian envoy to Kathmandu and author of Kathmandu Dilemma: Resetting India-Nepal Ties.
“We should invite more leaders from Nepal to understand and assess the evolving political situation there. Prachanda is an important part of the ruling coalition. This is an important visit both from both party perspectives as well as from the perspective of India-Nepal ties,” he added.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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