The government decision to declare public holiday on November 2 for Indian President Pranab Mukherjee’s scheduled visit to Nepal came at the initiation of President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, an official at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat said on Friday. 

A Cabinet decision on Thursday to declare a public holiday for Mukherjee’s visit has met with criticism from different quarters. 

“It is true that the President took the initiative in this regard. President Bhandari told Prime Minister Dahal that it would be a nice gesture if we could declare a public holidays during the visits of the two neighbouring heads of state,” said Ramesh Malla, the prime minister’s personal secretary. 

It is wrong to claim that Prime Minister Dahal was solely involved in taking the decision, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat said, adding that the traffic inconveniences that could occur during the high level visit was also considered when the Cabinet approved the holiday.  

In his meeting with student leaders on Friday, Prime Minister Dahal said of the holiday decision: “After holding discussions with top leaders and security agencies regarding the President’s suggestion, we decided to forward the proposal to the Cabinet for the approval.”    

Praladh Prasad Pudasaini, assistant spokesperson at the Presidential Secretariat, however, claimed that the secretariat had not been notified about any such initiative taken by President Bhandari. 

The secretariat also has not  made any official statement regarding the matter, he added.