Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has called an all-party meeting, according to an aide to the prime minister.

“The prime minister has called an all-party meeting at Baluwatar at 4:30pm today,” Oli’s chief advisor Bishnu Rimal tweeted on Wednesday. “Leaders of the parties in Parliament and former prime ministers have been invited.”

According to Baluwatar sources, the meeting will dwell on India’s recent move of opening a road link via Lipulekh, which Nepal considers an encroachment upon its territory, and the sudden rise of Covid-19 cases in the country.

The Oli government has come under immense pressure from the public as well as leaders from the ruling as well as opposition parties after India on Friday announced that it has opened a road link via Lipulekh for the Kailash-Mansarovar.

At Tuesday Cabinet meeting Oli had complained about no one apprising him of the road construction which had been going on for the last 12 years.

Since Friday, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali, however, has given conflicting statements, first saying the government learned about the road link via media reports and then telling Parliament that the government knew about it all along.

India’s Friday move comes six months after it placed Kalapani, which Nepal claims as its own, within Indian borders in a new political map it had published in line with New Delhi's decision to split up Jammu and Kashmir into two federal territories.

After a huge uproar over, Oli then also on November 10 had called an all-party meeting to solicit views on resolving the boundary dispute with India. Leaders present at the meeting had called on the prime minister to initiate diplomatic talks with India.

According to Baluwatar sources, the prime minister also wants to discuss yet another pressing issue–the Covid-19 pandemic–with the leaders of various parties and former prime ministers.

Nepal has been on lockdown since March 24 to contain the spread of the coronavirus. There, however, has been a sudden surge in the number of cases, with the country’s Covid-19 tally reaching 219 on Wednesday.

The sudden rise in the number of cases, with 83 cases, the highest in a single day, reported on Tuesday, was seen just when the government had started discussing if the lockdown should be gradually relaxed.

Until Monday, all the Covid-19 cases were detected in different districts, mostly in Tarai.

But on Tuesday, one more case was reported from Kathmandu and two from Bhaktapur.

According to the Health Ministry, Parsa so far has reported 82 cases, Udayapur 32, Kapilvastu 30, Banke 22, Rupandehi 16, and Kailali has reported 4 cases.

Three cases each have been detected in Rautahat and Bara. Baglung, Chitwan, Jhapa, Sarlahi, Mahottari and Dhanusha have reported two cases each. Similarly, Bhojpur, Saptari, Bardiya, Kanchanpur and Kavre have reported one Covid-19 case each.