KATHMANDU, May 28: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will pay an official visit to India to attend Indian counterpart Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony to be held on Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday.

Oli will leave Kathmandu for New Delhi on Thursday afternoon. The prime minister will visit India at the invitation of Modi.

During his visit, Oli will have a meeting with Modi in the Indian capital. Prime Minister's spouse Radhika Shakya, Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi, Foreign Affairs Advisor to PM Rajan Bhattarai will accompany the prime minister during the visit. 

The Oli-led high-powered delegation will return home on May 31. This is going to be the second visit of Prime Minister Oli to India since he came to power in February last year. Oli visited India in April 2018 after he reached at the helm of the government following the landslide victory in the elections.

Leaders from the BIMSTEC member states—Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan—will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 30 in the Indian capital New Delhi, according to media reports. 

Official Spokesperson of India's Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday "Government of India has invited the leaders of the BIMSTEC Member States for the Swearing-in ceremony. This is in line with Government's focus on its 'Neighbourhood First' policy. The President of the Kyrgyz Republic, who is the current Chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the Prime Minister of Mauritius, who was the Chief Guest at this year's Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, have also been invited."
"We will keep the media abreast of further details in due course," the spokesperson said. 

In 2014, Modi had invited all SAARC leaders for his swearing-in ceremony. Then Nepali Prime Minister Sushil Koirala had attended Modi's swearing-in.

“The President will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the Prime Minister and other members of the Union council of ministers at 7 pm on May 30, 2019, at Rashtrapati Bhavan,” read the statement issued by the Indian President's Office on Sunday.

Modi will be sworn in a week after he returned to power in a thumping victory. The counting of votes polled in the seven-phase elections to the 17th Lok Sabha took place on Thursday.

“The ceremony will be similar to the one that took place in 2014,” the Hindu said quoting an official of the President's Office.

Modi was elected unanimously as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance on May 25. 

 
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