Nepal’s prime minister meets Modi during official visit to India

Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ was welcomed Friday by his counterpart Narendra Modi at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Presidential Residence in New Delhi, as part of an official threeday visit to India, an epa journalist reports.

Prachanda, who arrived with his wife Sita Dahal, shook hands with Modi and the two men introduced their respective diplomatic staff to each other.

The pair then traveled to the nearby Hyderabad House, an official government venue for visiting foreign dignitaries, where they held a meeting and were due to sign several agreements.

The Nepalese premier is also scheduled to meet with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and various Indian government ministers.

Prachanda’s visit to India, which began yesterday, is his first bilateral trip after recently taking the prime ministerial office for the second time.

Now the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (MaoistCentre), Prachanda was for more than a decade the leader of a deadly Maoist insurgency in the Himalayan republic that left thousands dead and came to an end through a peace agreement in late 2006.