Deuba congratulates Prachanda on his appointment as new Nepal PM

KATHMANDU: Outgoing Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba on Monday congratulated the newly-appointed Premier Pushpa Kamal Dahal ''Prachanda''.

Prachanda, 68, was appointed as the new premier by President Bidya Devi Bhandari after he surprisingly walked away from the five-party ruling alliance led by Deuba's Nepali Congress and staked claim for the premier's post before the deadline set by the president expired on Sunday.

Prachanda will be sworn in for the third time as the Prime Minister on Monday.

Maoist Center Secretary Ganesh Shah said that Deuba congratulated Prachanda over the phone during the Maoist office meeting held on Monday morning.

Similarly, Secretary Shah said that other leaders of the Nepali Congress also congratulated Prachanda, My Republica website reported.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Prachanda on Sunday.

''Warmest congratulations @cmprachanda on being elected as the Prime Minister of Nepal. The unique relationship between India and Nepal is based on deep cultural connect and warm people-to-people ties. I look forward to working together with you to further strengthen this friendship,'' Modi said in a tweet.

China has also congratulated Prachanda on his appointment as the 44th prime minister of Nepal.

''Hearty congratulations to Chairman Prachanda [Pushpa Kamal Dahal] for the appointment as the 44th prime minister of Nepal,'' the Spokesperson at the Embassy of China in Kathmandu said in a tweet shortly after Prachanda's appointment as the new prime minister on Sunday evening.

Prachanda and CPN-UML chair and former prime minister K P Oli, fiercest critics of each other until Saturday, joined hands for a power-sharing deal on Sunday.

Prachanda had vowed to stay within the Congress-led alliance led by Deuba. It was widely thought that the ruling five-party alliance would continue and form the new government.

In Kathmandu, a sudden shift of camp by Prachanda to the CPN-UML and the consensus he was able to secure so quickly have taken many by surprise.

The former guerrilla leader will take charge as the prime minister after taking the oath of office and secrecy from President Bhandari at an official ceremony at Shital Niwas on Monday afternoon.