CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal left for a three-day visit to India on Friday.

He was accompanied by his personal secretary Ramesh Malla and daughter Ganga Dahal.

Speaking at a press conference organized at the Tribhuvan International Airport before leaving for New Delhi, he said that his visit would be focused on strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries.

Saying that his visit to India will be a goodwill visit, Dahal urged not link it with the recent visit of Chinese Communist Party leaders to Nepal.

He left for India at the invitation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President JP Nadda.

According to Dahal’s Secretariat, he will be welcomed at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi-based Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg. He will hold a meeting with BJP President JP Nadda there.

It has been learnt that Vijay Chauthaiwale, the chief of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Indian ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, among other senior leaders will be present in the meeting.

On the occasion, Dahal will also hold a meeting with Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He is also scheduled to meet Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Binay Mohan Kwatra.

The meeting with Indian Prime Minister Modi has not been fixed yet.

He will return home on July 17.