Indian PM Modi to visit Nepal from May 11 to 12

Kathmandu, April 21

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Nepal from May 11 to12, knowledgeable sources said.

Advance teams are already in Kathmandu to take stock of the security situation and finalise visit details.

“Prime Minister Modi is set to visit Kathmandu and Janakpur on May 11, India’s leading daily The Hindustan Times reported today.

Sources said the Indian prime minister’s long overdue visit to Janakpur is also on the cards this time around.

Janakpur is the headquarters of Province 2 and a highly revered religious site in Nepal and India.

Sources at the provincial government there said preparations for the Indian PM’s visit would start from tomorrow.

The Indian prime minister intended to visit Janakpur, Muktinath and Lumbini during his second visit to Nepal in November 2014 but he could not do so for some reasons.

A high-level source of the government of Nepal said dates for the Indian PM’s visit were yet to be finalised.

During his state visit to India from April 6 to 8, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had extended an invitation to his Indian counterpart to visit Nepal.

This will be Modi’s third visit to Nepal.

Modi visited Nepal from August 3 to 4 in 2014 the first time becoming the first Indian prime minister to visit Nepal after a long gap of 17 years.

Before Modi, it was Indian Prime Minister IK Gujral who had visited Nepal in June 1997.

Modi visited Nepal from November 25 to 27 in 2014 for the second time.

Former prime minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee had visited Kathmandu in 2001, but his visit was for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit.

Modi is expected to jointly inaugurate Arun III hydel project with his Nepali counterpart KP Sharma Oli.