Four months after the formation of the government, India has officially stated that it has invited Prime Minister Balendra Shah to visit India, without providing any details, a spokesperson at India’s Ministry of External Affairs has said.

Responding to a question during a regular press conference on Tuesday, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal said, “Yes, an invitation has been extended to the prime minister of Nepal to visit India.”

Soon after Prime Minister Shah was sworn in on March 27, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while congratulating him, extended an invitation to visit India, which Shah accepted. Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal had told the Post after his meeting with his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar, in Mauritius on April 12.

However, there has been no concrete preparation by either side to arrange Prime Minister Shah’s visit to India. “Our Prime Minister Balendra Shah has received the invitation to visit India in the congratulatory message sent by the Indian prime minister. The Prime Minister has also accepted it,” Khanal had said, “But the date and time have not yet been fixed.”

When a reporter asked about the reports that an emissary from Nepal had visited India and held meetings with stakeholders there, and that India planned to welcome Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah very soon, Jaiswal said they did not have any information on that.

“Coming to your first question, I have no information on that,” said Jaiswal. “On the second question, whether we have invited the Prime Minister of Nepal or not… yes, an invitation has been extended to the prime minister of Nepal to visit India.”

Recently, chief adviser to Prime Minister Shah, Kumar Ben (Byanjankar), visited India and held talks with senior government officials. However, Ben has categorically rejected reports that he visited India. Some Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmakers have claimed that the prime minister will not undertake any foreign visit until he completes one year in office, as domestic priorities are important for him.

Although Shah’s visit to India has not taken place, both sides have continued senior-level visits and meetings.

Foreign Minister Khanal has already visited India, and recently Additional Secretary at India’s Ministry of External Affairs Munu Mahawar also visited Kathmandu and discussed multiple aspects of Nepal-India relations.