NEW DELHI: As Nepal’s new Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba arrives here on his first visit this week, Nepal wants India to devote the full-spectrum attention that New Delhi has showered on Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Afghanistan.

Deuba will be here between August 23-27, and India and Nepal will headline a “partnership”. An MEA statement announcing the visit said, “India-Nepal partnership has witnessed significant growth in all areas of cooperation. The upcoming visit will provide an opportunity to both the sides for holding wide-ranging discussions on issues of mutual interest.”

Twenty years after the same Deuba signed the Mahakali treaty with India, both countries are hoping they will finally get it off the ground. The Nepal government is expected to announce some key clearances this week to greenlight three big ticket investments, Pancheshwar, Arun III and Upper Karnali projects – all these projects have been hanging fire for years, hobbled by poor decisions on both Indian and Nepali sides.

Last year, Nepal’s power woes were alleviated somewhat with India giving electricity to the Kathmandu valley. This week, India plans to inaugurate two more transmission points at Raxaul-Parwanipur and Kushaha-Kattaiya, to give more electricity. These are part of six transmission lines on the border at Muzzafarpur-Dhalkepar, Kushaha-Kattaiya, Raxaul-Parwanipur, New Butwol-Gorakhpur, Nepalgunj-Lucknow and Purnea. When Nepal is in a position to export electricity, these lines can be used to export electricity to India.

India and Nepal are slated sign four MOUs worth $250 million that will finally make use of the $1 billion reconstruction assistance India had pledged after the earthquake. Nepal needed to amend its own laws to set up a nodal body to handle these reconstruction projects, which will be in the areas of housing, education, health and cultural heritage. Another $750 million will be given through lines of credit. India will promise the Postal Road through the Terai which will now be done by contractors from Nepal. In its earlier iteration, the Terai roads project ran aground on land acquisition issues, corruption etc.

The real problem in Nepal is its politics, and the fact that there are too many Indian players who have a role in Nepal’s political landscape. Deuba wants the Madhesi Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) to participate in the provincial elections in Province 2 on September 18. India has asked the Madhesi parties to participate in the provincial elections, with the result that Madhesis are resentful of India and Kathmandu alike. Meanwhile, KP Oli is consolidating his support base on an anti-India platform. China is also trying to bring together Prachanda and Oli which could create a stronger left-leaning, China-friendly political establishment. To complicate matters, Nepal commentators are convinced the BJP government here want to make Nepal a “Hindu kingdom” again, which complicates India’s engagement with Nepal. Indian officials who have dealt with Nepal however say India is in a position of “damned if we do, and damned if we don’t” – that despite all India’s efforts India will never win the perception game in Nepal.

Last year, India issued guidelines allowing the import of hydroelectricity generated from only those projects that have at least 51% share of the Indian government or companies. This move was clearly aimed at discouraging other countries, particularly China, from investing in Nepal’s hydropower projects. Nepal resents this, seeing it as a violation of the 2013 power-trade agreement with India.

As China makes inroads into Nepal, India is trying to push back and Nepal is trying to play the non-aligned game. Nepal has remained silent on the current Doklam issue and will possibly remain so during Deuba’s visit. Last week, Chinese vice premier, Wang Yang who visited Kathmandu at around the same time that Sushma Swaraj did, promised to complete a rail track from Shigatse to Kerung near Nepal-China border by 2020. China has also promised to provide 1 billion RMB and technical expertise for the reconstruction of Kodari Highway.

