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First political visit will be to India: Prachanda

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Prime Minister’s Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) on Wednesday clarified his recent visit to China was not “political.”

“My first political visit will be to India,” he told reporters at the Tribhuvan International Airport on Wednesday, upon returning from a four-day visit to Beijing to attend the Olympics closing ceremony. “My visit to China was not a political one and it should not be taken otherwise,” said Mr. Prachanda.

About his first visit to India, he said: “Because of India’s support to Nepal since the 12-point agreement [signed by the Maoists and Seven Party Alliance in New Delhi in 2005], and because we share a similar culture, geography, and history, my first political visit will be in India,” he said.

Earlier, Nepal’s newly elected Premiers visited India on their maiden foreign trip, but Mr. Prachanda went to China, prompting leaders in Nepal and India to say he broke with tradition.

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