External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today met the Left alliance leader and CPN-UML chairman K P Sharma Oli, who is likely to be the next prime minister of Nepal.
Oli called on Swaraj at Hotel Soaltee here this evening.
Swaraj, who arrived here today on a two-day official visit to Nepal, will convey a "special political message" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has already expressed his readiness to work with the new government, the Kathmandu Post reported.
Oli will host a dinner in her honour.
She is the first senior Indian minister to visit Nepal after the conclusion of elections to local bodies, provincial assemblies and federal Parliament. Her visit is being considered significant in the political circles here.
Nepal successfully concluded three phase of provincial, local and parliamentary elections as part of its efforts to implement the new Constitution that was promulgated in September 2015.
Nepal's Left alliance is preparing to form a new government which is expected to be headed by Oli.
Oli, through a letter, had congratulated Modi on the 69th Republic Day of India.
Earlier, Swaraj was welcomed at the Tribhuvan International Airport by Deputy Finance Minister Udaya Shumsher Rana and Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi.
"I have come to meet friends here and there is no fixed agenda for discussion," Swaraj told reporters at the airport.
The clear victory to the Left alliance -- CPN-UML led by Oli and the CPN-Maoist led by Prachanda -- was not seen as a positive development for India given that Oli had publicly criticised New Delhi for interfering in Nepal's internal matters and accused it of toppling his government last year.
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