Nepal PM departs for New Delhi to attend swearing-in ceremony of PM-designate Narendra Modi

Kathmandu: Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' Sunday afternoon departed for India for a two-day visit. He flew down to New Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi scheduled for this evening.
PM Modi-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) is set for a historic third term in power after the results of the mammoth parliamentary elections were announced.
At the invitation of PM Modi, Dahal departed for India from the VVIP terminal of the Tribhuvan International Airport.
He was accompanied by his daughter Ganga Dahal, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Padam Giri, Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal, Head of South Asia Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bhrigu Dhungana, Chief of Protocol Bishnu Prasad Gautam, Protocol Officer Prabin Bhattarai and three security personnel of the prime minister, as per a release from Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dahal is among the distinguished guests who will attend the grand swearing-in ceremony of PM Modi, who is scheduled to take place at 7:15 PM (IST) at Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening.
PM Modi will assume office as prime minister for a third consecutive term as the BJP-led NDA secured 293 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. In the 543-strong lower house of the Indian parliament, 272 is the minimum majority figure. PM Modi is the second Indian leader to win a third term after founding prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Alongside Narendra Modi, members of his council of ministers will also take their oath this evening.
Apart from the Nepali Prime Minister several leaders and State heads of the neighbourhood region and Indian Ocean region have been invited to PM Modi's swearing-in ceremony as distinguished guests, as a testament to India's 'Neighbourhood First' policy.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in an official statement on Saturday said, "President of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe; President of Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu; Vice-President of Seychelles, Ahmed Afif; Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina; Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth; Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'; and Prime Minister of Bhutan, Tshering Tobgay, have accepted the invitation to attend."
Meanwhile, highlighting the significance of the event, the MEA emphasised, "The visit of the leaders to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his third consecutive term is in keeping with the highest priority accorded by India to its 'Neighborhood First' policy and 'SAGAR' vision."
Additionally, the MEA mentioned that besides participating in the swearing-in ceremony, the leaders will also grace a banquet hosted by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan, later in the same evening.
Nepal's then Prime Minister Sushil Koirala attended the first swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. The 2014 swearing-in ceremony of the Prime Minister was then called the mini-SAARC summit for being attended by the member nations of the regional organisation.
The second swearing-in ceremony also gained the highlight as Modi invited countries from the BIMSTEC group. It was Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli who had attended the second swearing-in ceremony of Modi in May 2019.