India-Nepal to review bilateral projects in the wake of Oli's China leaning
New Delhi: At a time when Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli is perceived to be completely leaning towards China at the expense of India, a crucial meeting will be held between the Indian Ambassador in Kathmandu and the Nepalese Foreign Secretary in the Nepalese Capital next week on August 17 to “review ongoing bilateral economic and development projects”.
Indian Government sources confirmed the meeting would take place on August 17 just hours after reports by the Nepalese media in this regard but at the same time pointed out that but that such meetings are “part of a regular and periodic interaction” between the two countries.
Ties between India and its Himalayan neighbour had soured in the past few months after Nepal went ahead and unveiled a new map that showed portions of territory in India’s Uttarakhand State---Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipu Lekh--as part of Nepal. New Delhi had objected to that move. Nepalese PM Oli had also recently made certain controversial observations regarding Ayodhya and the birthplace of Lord Rama.
Speculation has been rife among observers both in India and Nepal that the beleaguered Oli Government in Kathmandu which is facing domestic political opposition from within its ranks is doing all it can to damage ties between the two countries so that the Nepalese PM can endear himself all the more to Beijing.
But the meeting on August 17 is not expected to discuss the discord between the two countries on the new Nepalese map.
On Tuesday evening, Government sources said, “The scheduled oversight mechanism meeting between the Indian Ambassador in Kathmandu and Nepal's Foreign Secretary on 17 August, 2020, is part of a regular interaction between India and Nepal. This oversight mechanism was set up in 2016 to review ongoing bilateral economic and development projects, and meets on a periodic basis.”
Indian Government sources had stated in June this year that the controversial new Nepalese map that shows bits of Indian territory as part of Nepal was a “hastily” drawn-up one and a “unilateral, myopic and self-serving” action by Nepalese PM Oli that is “driven by his domestic political agenda for political gains”, adding that the onus was now on Nepal to create a positive atmosphere for talks on the boundary issue to take place.
