Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah's Chief Advisor, Kumar Byanjankar (known as Ben), reportedly travelled to New Delhi in the first week of July 2025 and held a meeting with India's National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, according to Kathmandu-based news portal Setopati.com, which cited a senior Foreign Ministry source. The visit, if confirmed, would mark a significant back-channel diplomatic contact between Nepal and India at a time when bilateral ties remain in a delicate phase.

What the Reports Claim

According to Setopati.com, Byanjankar's visit to the Indian capital was not formally communicated to Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, raising questions about the transparency of the engagement. The report further noted that Rabi Lamichhane, President of the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), was reportedly aware of the confidential visit. When senior party leaders asked about the meeting, Lamichhane reportedly told them that Byanjankar had informed him before departing for Delhi.

Byanjankar has been among Prime Minister Shah's most trusted confidants since Shah served as Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, making his reported role as an informal diplomatic emissary notable.

Byanjankar Denies the Visit

However, the Kathmandu Post reported on the same day — Thursday, 23 July — that Byanjankar has 'consistently denied' the reports, insisting that 'he had neither travelled to India nor held meetings with senior Indian government officials.' The denial leaves the episode unresolved, with no official confirmation from either Kathmandu or New Delhi.

Context: Shah's Cautious Diplomatic Posture

The reported back-channel contact comes against the backdrop of Prime Minister Shah's deliberate shift away from direct engagement with foreign diplomats. Citing concerns that previous administrations had allowed foreign envoys — including lower-ranking diplomatic staff — to access the Prime Minister without Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials present, Shah has avoided one-on-one meetings with ambassadors since taking office.

Instead, he held joint meetings with Kathmandu-based ambassadors on 9 April and 26 May — a policy that drew praise from some Nepali diplomats but also prompted questions about whether strict equidistance would serve Nepal's long-term national interests. The only individual exception was his meeting with Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masato Kanda, who visited Nepal for three days in early July.

India-Nepal Ties Under Strain

The backdrop to this episode is a notably subdued period in India-Nepal relations. Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri's planned visit to Nepal in May was called off, reportedly due to Shah's reluctance to engage. Although Prime Minister Shah has received an invitation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit India, the proposed trip remains uncertain despite earlier optimism that it would materialise soon.

Local media now reports that Shah is preparing to separately meet Indian Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Zhang Maoming — a sign that his strict no-bilateral-meeting posture may be softening.

Nepal's Geopolitical Balancing Act

Nepal occupies a strategically sensitive position between two geopolitical rivals — India and China — while also managing a complex relationship with the United States. Any back-channel outreach to New Delhi, if confirmed, would signal that Kathmandu is seeking to quietly stabilise ties with its southern neighbour even as it maintains a public posture of equidistance. This is the latest in a series of diplomatic signals that suggest Nepal's foreign policy calculus under Shah is still being calibrated.