Nepal's maiden female President embarks on maiden foreign visit to India

Kathmandu [Nepal], April 17 (ANI): Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari embarked on her maiden five-day foreign visit to India on Monday on the invitation of her Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee. President Bhandari is leading a 34 member delegation comprising of Foreign Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat and Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Sita Devi Yadav. During her visit, President Bhandari will meet President Mukherjee, Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari as well as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. She is also scheduled to visit temples in Gujarat and Odisha. This is the first ever visit to India by President Bhandari since assuming office in 2015. She was scheduled to visit India last year but the then Government led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli cancelled the visit citing the laggings in preparations. Meanwhile, the Nepal Government declared public holidays on the day of President Bhandari's departure and also on her return from New Delhi. (ANI)