In his condolence message to Sunil Thapa, son of the late leader, Mukherjee said "It was with sorrow that I received the sad news of the demise of your beloved father Surya Bahadur Thapa."
He added, "I very much valued his friendship and had worked with him closely on several occasions for the common objective of strengthening the bilateral cooperation between Nepal and India for the mutual benefit of our people. I will miss him greatly.