KATHMANDU, APRIL 12: President Bidya Devi Bhandari is set to pay a five-day maiden state visit to India from April 17 to April 21 at the invitation of her Indian counterpart President  Shri Pranab Mukherjee.

On April 17, President Bhandari will  attend the dinner party to be hosted by Nepal’s ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyayain. She will stay at the Rashtrapati Bhavan during the visit to New Delhi.

 She will pay a courtesy call on her Indian counterpart Shri Pranab Mukherjee on April 18. The meeting is scheduled to be followed by a Banquet hosted by Indian president Mukherjee. She is also scheduled to meet with Indian vice-president Mohammad Hamid Ansari,  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some senior ministers.

On the same day, she will inspect a guard of honor offered to her by Indian Army at  the  Rashtrapati Bhavan. Other activities she will be partaking in on the same day include paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and visiting Yamuna Biodiversity Park.

In addition to New Delhi, president Bhandari is scheduled to visit  Gujarat and Odisha.

She is scheduled to return home on April 21.

Earlier, she was scheduled to pay state visit from May 9, 2016. However, Nepal government had cancelled that planned visit citing that preparations were inadequate for the visit. On the contrary, political pundits had construed the cancellation of her scheduled visit as Nepal government’s reaction to the alleged Indian interference in Nepal’s internal affairs.

She is going to pay state visit to India for the first time since she assumed power on October 15, 2015.

 
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