Nepal names former law minister as ambassador to India

The Nepal government on Monday nominated former law minister and senior politician Nilambar Acharya as ambassador to India.

The position of Nepalese ambassador to India was vacant for about a year after Deep Kumar Upadhyay resigned October last year to join politics.

A cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli proposed Acharya's name for the diplomatic post, officials said.


Achayra, a former envoy to Sri Lanka, currently coordinates the Nepal side of the Eminent Persons Group on Nepal-India relations.

A Moscow University graduate, Acharya was initially left-leaning but later joined the Nepali Congress party.

He was minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Labour and Social Welfare in the interim government of 1990.

Acharya's name will now be sent to a parliamentary committee for approval, which then will forward it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

The Nepal's MFA will then send it to its Indian counterpart Ministry of External Affairs for an agreemo. Once approved and agreemo signed, the MFA will send Acharya's name to the Nepal president for the presidential order.

The government had previously nominated former Chief Election Commissioner Neelkantha Uprety as ambassador to India. But following criticism, it withdrew the decision.