Nepal finally picks envoy to India after three years

After a three-year-long vacancy at its Mandi House embassy in New Delhi, Nepal has finally picked its envoy for India, a critical diplomatic mission for the Himalayan nation's foreign relations.

A cabinet meeting Friday evening, chaired by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, decided to send senior Nepali Congress leader Deep Kumar Uphadhyay as Nepal's new ambassador to India.

The plum posting has been vacant since the past more than three years after the then government recalled ambassador Rukma Shukshere Rana after he was found serving as managing director of Nepal-India joint venture company Dabur Nepal.

A Central Working Committee member of the Nepali Congress, Uphadhyay is a former assistant finance minister and hails from the southern Kapilvastu district. He had lost the second elections to the Constituent Assembly in 2013.

Though Uphadhyay does not have experience in working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or in any prior assignment in a diplomatic position, as a staunch loyalist to Prime Minister Koirala, he enjoys good relations with Indian political leaders.

The appointment came Friday after ruling coalition partners Nepali Congress and CPN-UML decided to split the key ambassadorial positions in New Delhi and Washington DC, respectively.

CPN-UML activist Arjun Karki was named ambassador to the US -- a post lying vacant for more than a year.

Both ambassadorial nominees have to face a parliamentary committee hearing before the respective agreemo are sent for approval of the host country.