The meeting between the two ruling parties of India and Nepal is being viewed as an effort to increase the political conversation between New Delhi and Kathmandu. File
| Photo Credit: AFP
A five-member delegation of Nepal’s ruling party, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), under the leadership of its chairperson Rabi Lamichhane, will visit India from Monday (June 1, 2026) at the specific invitation of BJP president Nitin Nabin.
A statement released by the BJP giving out details of this visit said Mr. Lamichhane and the delegation would be visiting the party headquarters and hold meeting with Mr. Nabin and senior BJP leaders. The visit of the delegation assumes significance as it comes days after the cancellation of Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s proposed visit to Kathmandu. It is believed that Mr. Misri, who was due to visit Nepal on May 12 cancelled his visit after no assurance was forthcoming over a meeting with Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah.
The meeting between the two ruling parties of India and Nepal therefore is being viewed as an effort to increase the political conversation between New Delhi and Kathmandu.
“The visit seeks to initiate party-to-party engagement between the RSP and the BJP and provide an opportunity for exchange of views on organisational practices, democratic processes, and people-centric political outreach,” the BJP release said, adding that the party looked forward to a “constructive dialogue”.
Mr. Lamichhane will also be making a personal visit to Ayodhya during the trip to India, the RSP said in a statement. The other members of the delegation are Bipin Kumar Acharya (joint general secretary of RSP and member of the House of Representatives), Deepak Bohora (secretariat member and member of the House of Representatives), Nikita Poudel, and Pradip Acharya.
The visit also comes a day after Prime Minister Mr. Shah said Nepal too had encroached upon some Indian territories, an unprecedented claim made by any Nepali government.
In the past, in 2022, Sher Bahadur Deuba became the first sitting Prime Minister of Nepal to visit the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, where he met then BJP president J.P. Nadda. Following that visit, former Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), also visited the BJP headquarters in the same year.
Published – May 31, 2026 10:02 pm IST
