Prime Minister dials Nepal PM Sher Bahadur Deuba, bats for better ties
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 19
In an indication of a new turn in India-Nepal ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated his Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba after he won the vote of confidence in Nepal’s House of Representatives by an emphatic margin on Sunday.
PM Modi tweeted his congratulations to Deuba on Sunday night after even some close associates of the previous incumbent KP Oli broke ranks to give him 165 votes in the 275-member House as against his original support base of 149 MPs.
PM Modi followed up his message with a call to Deuba on Monday in which he hoped the two leaders will work together to further enhance the wide-ranging cooperation between the two countries, including in the fight against the pandemic.
Deuba was appointed Prime Minister on July 12 following the Supreme Court’s intervention.
“I had (a) cordial telephone conversation with PM Modi. We shared views on further strengthening bilateral ties. PM Modi assured early supply of Covid Vaccines to Nepal. I thanked him for his warm words of congratulations,” Deuba tweeted.
A day before the Nepal Supreme Court judgment, Oli had made a last-ditch attempt to curry India’s favour by rejecting bids of Chinese companies and awarding the $1.3 billion Lower Arun hydel project to the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN). Oli had conceded the Indian argument that the SJVN should get the contract since it is at the tail race of the Arun-3 hydel project being built by the same company.
