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By Our Reporter

After he was appointed Prime Minister for the third time on July 14, 2024, KP Sharma Oli has been making efforts to visit India. However, his efforts failed for a year, as India did not show any interest in welcoming PM Oli in New Delhi.  The reason was obvious that the Indian establishment was not happy with Oli during his previous tenure as Nepal’s PM, and he was appointed as the PM last year against Indian wishes. India had tried to prevent Oli from becoming the PM for the third time, but Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba dared to bear the Indian pressure and supported Oli’s ride to power after pulling down the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government. It was said at the time that Deuba was ready to forge an unusual alliance between the NC and UML to avoid Arzu Rana’s arrest in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam.

Now, after completing one year in office, PM Oli has been invited to pay a two-day visit to India on September 16 and 17.

Maybe, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also realised that it was not possible to avoid the PM of the nearest neighbour and invited PM Oli. News reports this week confirmed that PM Oli received the invitation.

However, the Foreign Ministry has not officially announced the visit schedule. The foreign ministry officials have confirmed that they are making preparations for PM Oli’s India visit.

Prime Minister Oli, in a recent interview with journalist Bijay Kumar Pandey, also said that he was soon visiting India.

Coincidentally, PM Oli will be visiting India on the birthday of Indian PM Modi on September 17. Again, this will be the shortest India visit of a Nepali PM.

PM Oli will leave for New Delhi on September 16 and will return to Kathmandu on September 17.

It seemed the souring relations between India and PM Oli improved after the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, as Nepal fully stood in favour of India after the heinous attack in which 26 civilians, including a Nepal national, were killed.

Even though there were rumours that India invited Oli after former President Bidya Bhandari tried to unseat him from the party chairmanship with the backing of China, there have not been proofs to justify this.

Anyway, PM Oli has fulfilled his intention to visit India, and he will probably utilise the visit to improve his relations with Modi when the world order has almost been altered after Donald Trump was elected the US president. The delayed visit will also help Oli to consolidate his power in the party and government, as the base of his government has, of late, been weak after the disgruntled faction led by Shekhar Koirala in NC has been questioning the relevancy of his party’s support to the government.