Kathmandu, March 2
The government has decided to call back the Nepali Ambassador to China, Leela Mani Paudyal, and to send the ruling Nepal Communist Party leader and former foreign affairs minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey in his place.
A meeting of the Cabinet held on Sunday evening made the decision.
Paudyal, a retired chief secretary of the government, was appointed the ambassador in September 2016. During the meeting yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali proposed that the NCP leader Pandey be appointed to replace Paudyal. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and other ministers had agreed.
Before Paudyal’s appointment, the government during Oli’s first premiership had nominated Pandey for the position but it was withdrawn after the Nepali Congress-Maoist alliance toppled the government.
