Nepal’s former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has congratulated his newly-appointed successor Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda”, who was sworn-in for the third time as the premier of the Himalayan nation on Monday.
Prachanda, 68, was appointed as the new prime minister by President Bidya Devi Bhandari after he surprisingly walked away from the five-party ruling alliance led by Deuba’s Nepali Congress and staked claim for the premier’s post before the deadline set by the president expired on Sunday.
He was sworn-in as the Prime Minister of Nepal for a third time on Monday evening. Prachanda took the oath of office and secrecy from President Bhandari at an official ceremony at Shital Niwas, the presidential palace.
Maoist Centre Secretary Ganesh Shah said Deuba congratulated Prachanda over the phone during the Maoist office meeting held in the morning. Other leaders of the Nepali Congress also congratulated Prachanda on his appointment as the new premier.
Congratulating Prachanda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he looks forward to working together with him to further strengthen Indo-Nepal friendship.
“Warmest congratulations @cmprachanda on being elected as the Prime Minister of Nepal. The unique relationship between India and Nepal is based on deep cultural connect and warm people-to-people ties. I look forward to working together with you to further strengthen this friendship,” Modi tweeted.
Taking to Twitter on Monday, US Ambassador to Nepal Dean R Thompson said he is “looking forward to further strengthening our 75-yr partnership & working together to support democracy, human rights, and economic growth”.
Shortly after Prachanda’s appointment as the new prime minister on Sunday evening, the Spokesperson at the Embassy of China in Kathmandu in a tweet congratulated the former Maoist leader on his appointment as the 44th prime minister of Nepal.
Ambassadors of India and China also congratulated Prachanda on being appointed to the post of prime minister. Indian ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava and Chinese ambassador Wang Xin telephoned Prachanda and congratulated him, said an aide to Prachanda.
Both the ambassadors expressed hope that during Prachanda’s tenure, the bilateral cooperation will further strengthen and expand. Prachanda and CPN-UML chair and former prime minister K P Oli, fiercest critics of each other until Saturday, joined hands for a power-sharing deal on Sunday.
Prachanda had vowed to stay within the Congress-led alliance led by Deuba. It was widely thought that the ruling five-party alliance would continue and form the new government.
In Kathmandu, a sudden shift of camp by Prachanda to the Oli-led CPN-UML and the consensus he was able to secure so quickly have taken many by surprise.