The secretariat of CPN Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has refuted reports that former Indian foreign secretary Shyam Saran quietly came to Kathmandu and met Dahal.
Ganga Dahal, personal secretary to Dahal, said no diplomatic meetings of Dahal are secretive or mysterious, and Dahal has had no secret meetings with any Indian individual or body. She added that Dahal has been holding diplomatic meetings in coordination with the government bodies.
"The propaganda about that, therefore, is false, planned and malicious," she has posted on Facebook.
The secretariat has also claimed that Dahal is not involved in the episode about testing of Indian vegetables for pesticides.
Setopati on Thursday had reported that Baluwatar has been rocked after Saran quietly came to Kathmandu and met Dahal.
Sources close to Prime Minister (PM) and CPN Chairman KP Sharma Oli confided with Setopati that Saran, who keeps keen interest in Nepal affairs, came to Kathmandu in the last week of June, met Dahal at Khumaltar and returned back to Delhi.
PM Oli did not even know about the ‘secret’ meeting for a few days. “PM Oli has started discussions with his confidants after arrival of former Indian ambassador to Nepal and foreign secretary Shyam Saran, and recent meetings of Dahal with Indian ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri,” a source said.
A member of the Oli Cabinet also confirmed that.
Members of PM Oli’s core team Bishnu Rimal and Rajan Bhattarai had posted on social media about external maneuverings after that.
The issues of differing comments by ministers about the testing of Indian vegetables for pesticides and the public denial by PM Oli about the Indian letter also have been linked with these meetings.
PM Oli in the program ‘PM with people’ broadcast on Nepal Television had also hinted that Dahal did not tell him about the letter despite having knowledge about that.
“The Indian Embassy apparently wrote to the Foreign Ministry to not test Indian vegetables for pesticides. The Indian ambassador then reached Khumaltar to meet Dahal carrying that letter. Dahal then phoned Industry Minister Matrika Yadav and instructed to stop the process of pesticide testing,” the source told Setopati confirming what Oli hinted.
