KATHMANDU, Sept 14: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has left for New Delhi on a four-day state visit, leading a 125-member delegation, at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi onThursday. 

Prime Minister Dahal left for New Delhi on flight number 205 of Nepal Airlines Corporation. A squad of Nepal Army fired salvo while seeing him off at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

Speaker Onsari Gharti, Deputy Prime Minister, Ministers and top-notch officials, among others, were present at the Tribhuvan International Airport to bid adieu to Prime Minister Dhala. Dahal will land at Indiragandhi International Airport in New Delhi after a while. 

He is accompanied by his spouse Sita Dahal, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Ramesh Lekhak and MPs Narayan Chaudhary, Lal Babu Rawat, Yogendra Chaudhary, Tek Bahadur Basnet and Jangi Lal Raya. 

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dahal will attend a dinner party hosted by Nepali Embassy in New Delhi today evening. 

On September 16, the PM is scheduled to attend the guard of honour ceremony to be organized at the Rastrapati Bhawan, and also lay a wreath at cemetery of Mahatma Gandhi, reaching Rajghat the same day. 

On the same day, he will pay a courtesy call on Indian President Pranab Mukherjee. After the courtesy call, he will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior ministers and other officials. 

Dahal wil return home on September 18. 

Photos by Dipesh Shrestha/Republica