Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae completed his three-and-a-half-year tenure in Kathmandu on Tuesday and is leaving for New Delhi on Wednesday.

But the Indian government has failed to send Rae’s successor probably for the first time in Nepal. The Indian government does not have the practice of keeping its Kathmandu mission vacant for long.

Sources said appointment of a new Indian envoy will take another couple of weeks. Until the new Indian envoy arrives, Deputy Chief of Mission Vinaya Kumar will head the embassy.

Rae on Tuesday paid a farewell call on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and discussed a wide range of issues, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office. The PM told Rae that he hoped bilateral ties between the two countries would strengthen further in the days to come.