Sunday, September 14, 2008 will see Nepal’s first Maoist Prime Minister, Mr Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ arriving in India for a five-day visit. India, on its part, is looking forward to utilizing this opportunity to bolster its relationship with the Himalayan nation.

But the India's external ministry was heard making a rather clipped declaration about the Nepal PM's visit recently. It simply mentioned that Prachanda was coming at the invitation of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. The reason why India is seen to be fuming is because the Maoist leader neglected India to make his first foreign visit to China recently. As a norm, it is India that came first on the list of Nepalese prime ministers upon assuming office.

The visit of Prachanda will see no inking of agreements and deals between India and Nepal though. As per the statement of the external affairs ministry, 'the visit will provide the opportunity for discussing the entire gamut of issues between our two countries'. To play down the issue of the newly elected Nepal PM visiting China first, Kathmandu stated this was Prachanda’s 'first formal political visit' to any country.