New Delhi: Months after the Rastriya Swatantra Party came to power in Nepal, party chairman Rabi Lamichhane is on a two-day visit to India at the BJP’s invitation. The visit is aimed at establishing party-to-party dialogue.
“BJP is seeking to establish a regular channel of communication with Nepal’s ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party. We want to definitely set up a dialogue between the two ruling parties,” BJP foreign affairs head Vijay Chauthaiwale told ThePrint.
“This is new for us too, but we are hopeful that it will set up a kind of regular dialogue between the two parties,” he added.
RSP chief Lamichhane arrived in New Delhi Tuesday, leading a three-member delegation. According to a press statement released by the BJP late Sunday, during the two-day visit, the Nepalese delegation will meet BJP national president Nitin Nabin.
“The visit seeks to initiate party-to-party engagement between RSP and BJP and provide an opportunity for exchange of views on organisational practices, democratic processes and people-centric political outreach,” the statement read.
A delegation of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), Nepal, led by Chairman of RSP Shri Rabi Lamichhane, arrived in New Delhi this afternoon.I accompanied Shri Arun Singh ji, General Secretary, BJP, to welcome the delegates at IGI airport. @hamrorabi @ArunSinghbjp @BJP4India pic.twitter.com/kdBhsNuweB
— Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale (@vijai63) June 1, 2026
The visit marks one of the first formal interactions between the BJP and Nepal’s Rastriya Swatantra Party since the latter emerged as a major political force and formed the government.
PM Modi had telephone conversations with RSP leaders Rabi Lamichhane and Balendra Shah, soon after the party won a landmark victory in the March elections held after the September GenZ protests saw the fall of the Oli-led government.
The visit also comes on the heels of Nepal’s newly-elected PM Balen Shah’s comments on “cross-border holding of properties” between India and Nepal.
On Sunday, Shah in his maiden parliament speech gave a fresh twist to the India-Nepal border row claiming that territorial encroachments along the border were not a one-sided issue. He then said both countries were occupying land claimed by the other and that China and the UK should be involved in the border dispute.
Earlier this month, Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs again objected to the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage route being conducted through what it described as Nepalese territory. The ministry said it had communicated its position to both India and China through diplomatic channels and had repeatedly called on India not to undertake activities such as road construction, expansion projects, border trade or pilgrimage operations in the disputed region.
India responded by reiterating what it called its “consistent and clear” position. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Nepal’s territorial claims were “neither justified nor based on historical facts and evidence”.
Chauthaiwale, however, said the visit would focus primarily on party-to-party engagement rather than government policy matters.
“I doubt policy issues will be discussed. It will be more about party-to-party dialogue, exchanges and interactions. Policy issues will be dealt with by the government,” he said.
According to senior BJP officials, the invitation to Lamichhane was extended in early May by the BJP and the outreach reflected the importance New Delhi attaches to Nepal’s new political leadership.
“When they won, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called both Rabi Lamichhane and Balen Shah,” the leader said. “He gave as much importance to the party as to the prime ministerial candidate.”
The BJP leader clarified that the invitation had been extended specifically to Lamichhane and not to Prime Minister Balen Shah. “We didn’t have anything to do with Balen. The invitation was from us to Rabi Lamichhane,” the leader added.
The BJP leader said Lamichhane’s official engagements in New Delhi would be brief. The itinerary includes a visit to the BJP headquarters, discussions with party president J. P. Nadda and a luncheon meeting.
“They will come here at 11 am and be here till around 2 pm,” the leader added.
Following his meetings in the Capital, Lamichhane is expected to travel to Ayodhya. However, that leg of the journey is a personal visit and not being arranged by the BJP.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: PM Balen Shah says Nepal-India border row not one sided, both ‘encroach’ on each other’s territory