PM to attend Indian PM’s swearing-in ceremony

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, June 7: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is flying to New Delhi, India, to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.

Prime Minister Prachanda has been invited by Modi for the ceremony.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held in Singha Durbar on Thursday afternoon endorsed the visit of Prime Minister Prachanda to India to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Prime Minister of India.

 Modi is preparing to take the oath of office and secrecy for his third term as the Prime Minister of India.  After the National Democratic Alliance led by Narendra Modi secured the majority seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha in the elections held recently, Modi is all set to become the Prime Minister of the largest democracy for the third consecutive term. 

After the Cabinet meeting, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Rekha Sharma, who is also the government spokesperson, confirmed the visit of Prime Minister Prachanda to India for the swearing-in ceremony. 

However, it is not yet confirmed who will be accompanying the Prime Minister, she said. 

The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for Sunday evening (June 9).

Similarly, the government has decided to recall ambassadors from 11 countries, including India, the United States of America and the UK.

According to Minister Sharma, the Cabinet meeting decided to recall ambassadors appointed by the previous government in which the Nepali Congress was a key coalition partner.

On March 4 this year, PM Prachanda ended the coalition with the NC and formed the present new government inducting ministers from the CPN (UML), the Rastriya Swatantra Party and other parties.

According to Minister Sharma, Nepali ambassadors serving in India, the USA, the UK, South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Israel have been recalled.

The recalled Ambassadors included Dr. Shankar Prasad Sharma (India), Gyan Chandra Acharya (UK), Sharmila Parajuli Dhakal (Spain), Ram Rai (Denmark), Prof. Shreedhar Khatri (USA), Kanta Rijal (Israel), Prof. Dr. Jyoti Pyakurel (South Korea), Navaraj Subedi (Saudi Arabia), Naresh Bikram Dhakal (Qatar) and Dilliraj Paudel (Malaysia) have been recalled.

Similarly, the Cabinet meeting gave an approval to present the Bill to amend some Nepal Acts related to investment facilitation in the Federal Parliament.

The government has also decided to appoint Narendra Bhandari as the Chairman of Hetauda Cement Industry, Padam Oli as the General Manager of Industrial Area Management Limited and Tej Bahadur Rai as the Executive Director of the International Convention Centre.

Further, the government has agreed in principle to construct new headworks and additional structures of the Melamchi Drinking Water Project at a suitable location in the upper area of the Melamchi River.

The cabinet meeting has also decided to considered 52 diseases as communicable diseases as per the sub-clause (1) of clause 49 of the Public Health Service Act-2018.

The government has also endorsed Pesticides Management Regulations-2024 and Senior Citizens (First Amendment) Regulations-2024.