Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bimalendra Nidhi talks to journalists at Kathmandu Airport before leaving for New Delhi on Thursday. Pic: Gopen RaiA day before Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara's return to Kathmandu from Beijing, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bimalendra Nidhi jetted off to New Delhi on Thursday.
While Mahara is in Beijing as a special envoy of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to invite Chinese President Xi Jinping to Kathmandu, Nidhi is expected to lay the groundwork for Dahal's visit to India, probably in September.
Nidhi will also invite Indian President Pranab Mukherjee to Nepal, and discuss President Bidya Bhandari's India visit. Speaking to journalists at Kathmandu Airport, Nidhi said the main objective of his visit is to restore Nepal-India relations, which became strained during former Prime Minister KP Oli's tenure.
Nidhi is scheduled to call on Indian President Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Bharatya Janata Party President Amit Shah.