Senior BJP leader and the party's head of the foreign affairs department Vijay Chauthaiwale on Friday called on Nepalese Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel and discussed with them various aspects of India-Nepal ties.
Chauthaiwale met Gyawali at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singhdurbar secretariat.
"I am pleased to meet Vijay Chauthaiwale, in-charge of BJP's Foreign Affairs Department. We discussed wide-ranged aspects of Nepal-India relations," Foreign Minister Gyawali tweeted after the meeting.
Chauthaiwale is on a visit to Nepal at the invitation of the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal Bishnu Poudel, who is also the finance minister.
He also called upon Poudel.
"Had a very cordial meeting with the General Secretary of Nepalese Communist Party and finance minister of Nepal, Shri Bishnu Paudel ji," Chauthaiwale tweeted.
Earlier on Thursday, the Indian leader called on Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli at his official residence in Baluwatar in Kathmandu.
Chauthaiwale's visit comes at a time when the intra-party rift in Nepal's ruling party is at its peak due to rivalry between the two factions - one led by Oli and the other by the former prime minister and party's executive chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda'.
The BJP leader's visit follows a series of high-level visits from India in recent weeks. Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardan Shringla visited Nepal at the end of November and held talks with Nepal's top leadership. Earlier in November, Indian Army chief Gen M.M. Naravane travelled to Nepal on a three-day visit during which he held talks with top leadership.
His visit was largely aimed at resetting bilateral ties that came under severe strain following the border row.
Research and Analysis Wing chief Samant Kumar Goel visited Nepal in October and paid a courtesy call to Prime Minister Oli.
The ties between the two countries came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.
Nepal protested the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through its territory.
Days later, Nepal came out with the new map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as its territories.
After Nepal released the map, India reacted sharply, calling it a "unilateral act" and cautioning Kathmandu that such "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims will not be acceptable to it.
In its reaction, after Nepal's lower house of parliament approved the bill, India had also termed as untenable the "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims by the neighbouring country.
India had said Nepal's action violates an understanding reached between the two countries to resolve the boundary issues through talks.Â
