Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke with Nepal’s newly elected leader Balendra Shah, who is set to become the Himalayan nation’s youngest Prime Minister.“Had warm telephone conversations with Mr. Rabi Lamichhane, Chairman of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and Mr. Balendra Shah, Senior Leader of the RSP,” wrote PM Modi on X.PM Modi said he convyed India’s “commitment to work with them for mutual prosperity, progress and well-being of our two countries”. “Congratulated both leaders on their electoral victories and RSP’s resounding success in the Nepal elections. Conveyed my best wishes for their forthcoming new Government and India’s commitment to work with them for mutual prosperity, progress and well-being of our two countries. I am confident that with our joint endeavours, India and Nepal relations will scale new heights in the years ahead,” PM Modi further wrote.Nepal’s political landscape witnessed a dramatic transformation, as newly elected youth leader Balendra “Balen” Shah unseated veteran politician and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from his parliamentary stronghold. A structural engineer by profession who first rose to prominence as the mayor of Kathmandu, Shah has now made history four years later by becoming the youngest person ever to claim Nepal’s Prime Ministership.Contesting from Jhapa-5, the former rapper and capital city mayor defeated his long-time rival Oli by a resounding margin, the Election Commission of Nepal announced.Shah, a senior leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), secured 68,348 votes, nearly four times more than the 18,734 votes garnered by the 74-year-old Marxist leader.
