Is Nepal's former PM Prachanda already in Siliguri?

Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda

KATHMANDU: Is the chief of Nepal's ruling Maoist party and former prime minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, now camping in Siliguri on an unofficial visit?
While Nepal's foreign ministry and the office of new prime minister, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, are working out the dates for the premier's first official visit to India, Nepal's media fraternity believes that Maoist supremo has already made his way to India.
According to Bishnu Rijal, who was press advisor to Madhav Kumar Nepal -- another former PM of Nepal -- and whose weekly, Budhbar, reflects the communists' view of the currently ruling Maoist party, Prachanda went to Siliguri immediately after attending a party programme in Gorkha district in western Nepal on Friday.
After the media showed images of Prachanda sharing the same dais with his deputies, Bhattarai and Mohan Baidya in Gorkha, the former revolutionary simply dropped out of the public radar on Saturday, adding credence to Rijal's statements. The Nepali editor also says that Prachanda was accompanied by his wife Sita, son Prakash and an aide, Hari Bol Gajurel.
Rijal sais that in 2007, when Nepal was going through a period of turbulence, Prachanda had met high officials of India's Research and Analysis Wing in the Paschim Bangla town. So there is a speculation that Prachanda might again be holding a similar covert meeting with Indian officials.
This week's edition of Budhbar also said Jawaharlal Nehru University scholar Bhattarai's election as Nepal's new PM last month materialised only after he made a secret pact with Prachanda. In the pact, according to the report, Bhattarai agreed to support Prachanda as the next premier if his government failed and also assured to stand behind him at the party's winter meet when it is time to elect a new leader. Bhattarai's predecessor, communist premier Jhala Nath Khanal, had, incidentally, won the PM vote in February after signing a secret deal with Prachanda that later led to his downfall.
However, the Maoist party on Saturday professed ignorance about Prachanda's whereabouts while some reports indicated he could have gone to Siliguri on family matters. Prachanda's youngest daughter Ganga is married to former Indian MP Badri Narayan Pradhan's son Narayan Vikram, who lives in Siliguri.