Rastriya Swantantra Party chair Rabi Lamichhane will be meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top political leaders in New Delhi as he tours India at a time when the two neighbours experience an uneasy relationship following a reignited boundary row.

Lamichhane, accompanied by his spouse and two party leaders, is paying an official visit to New Delhi from June 1 to 5 at the invitation of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Delhi had invited Prime Minister Balendra Shah and Rabi Lamichhane after the RSP’s electoral victory in March. With Shah’s visit uncertain due to a self-imposed moratorium, Lamichhane will be the first to travel. His wife, Nikita Poudel, and two trusted leaders—Bipin Acharya and Deepak Bohara—are part of Lamichhane’s delegation.

Neither side had announced the visit as of Saturday evening. However, informed sources in Kathmandu and New Delhi say that, in addition to Modi, Lamichanne will meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, and BJP President Nitin Nabin, among others.

Sources in New Delhi say a meeting between Lamichhane and Modi has been proposed for June 2, to give both sides an opportunity to engage and understand each other in the changed political context in Kathmandu.

After concluding the official meetings on June 2 in New Delhi, Lamichhane will be visiting an iconic place in India, most likely Agra or Ayodhya, according to the sources. The visit will focus on strengthening bilateral relations, understanding the new government's attitude towards India, and party-to-party relations between the RSP and the BJP, according to sources.

The visit, which was scheduled for three days earlier, was extended by two days, as the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi learns. Nepali diplomats will be present in all official meetings.

Most of Lamichhane’s meetings will conclude on June 2, and the remaining three days are reserved for private time and engagements, according to sources.

“He will address Nepalis living in India at the Lajpat Bhawan Auditorium in New Delhi on June 4,” Bohara said about Lamichhane’s engagements.

Lamichanne’s India visit follows the postponement of a visit by Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri to Kathmandu and in the wake of a boundary dispute over the Nepali territory of Lipulekh. India had also indirectly expressed concerns over the imposition of customs duties on goods valued over Rs100 brought across the border to Nepal from India and the postponement of Misri’s visit.

Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi on Friday, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said the Indian foreign secretary had received an invitation from Nepal and his visit to Kathmandu would take place at a mutually agreed date.

Misri was due to visit Kathmandu on May 11 to hear the priorities of the new government, as agreed by the foreign ministers of Nepal and India. In a meeting on April 10 in Mauritius, India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar had informed Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal that Misri would visit Kathmandu to hold talks with senior Nepali leaders, including the prime minister, the foreign minister and the finance minister, among others.

But just ahead of Misri’s scheduled visit, Nepal and India entered into a dispute over Lipulekh. Prime Minister Shah also maintained his stance that he would meet officials only at the minister or higher level. These factors led to the cancellation of Misri’s visit. In the midst of these back-to-back developments, New Delhi invited Lamichanne to visit India.

However, the government side has distanced itself from Lamichhane's visit to India and clarified that there is no need to link Lamichhane’s visit to the prime minister’s. Speaking to the media, government spokesperson Sasmit Pokhrel said that Lamichhane was travelling in his personal capacity. “It has nothing to do with the prime minister. People may try to relate it to the prime minister’s visit, but there is no link between the two [visits],” he said.