Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba returned from New Delhi on Monday evening, with no clarity on when Prime Minister KP Oli will make his long anticipated official visit to India. Despite Oli’s eagerness to visit the southern neighbour since taking office in mid-July, efforts to secure an invitation from New Delhi have yet to succeed.

At the same time, CPN-UML deputy general secretary and former foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali also returned home from New Delhi on Monday. According to officials, both the incumbent and former foreign ministers failed to make any headway in securing a date for Prime Minister Oli’s India visit.

“This time, I went to India to participate in an Indo-Nepal economic summit and for a health check-up,” she said while responding to a question at Kathmandu airport upon her arrival. “I had no political meetings or discussions this time.”

Deuba, who left for the Hague, Netherlands on December 7, leading Nepal’s delegation to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), returned home via India where she also underwent a health checkup, according to a statement issued by her private secretariat.

On December 9, she had presented Nepal’s position on the ‘Obligations of states in respect of climate change’ during ICJ hearings held from December 2 to 12.

The hearings were initiated following the adoption of United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/77/276, which requested the ICJ’s advisory opinion on states’ responsibilities concerning climate change.

She then travelled to Berlin, Germany, to attend the Equal Rights Coalition Conference, scheduled on December 17 and 18. The conference was hosted by German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock on behalf of the Coalition’s co-chairs, Germany and Mexico.

During her Europe visit, Minister Deuba held several high-level discussions with officials from Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and the European Union.

On Monday, before leaving for Kathmandu, she participated in an interaction at India Foundation which is led by Ram Madhav, former general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Deuba’s Delhi trip came with high expectations, especially after her last visit in August, when she met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as her counterpart, S. Jaishankar. But this time, the visit was unofficial and she thus could not meet Indian leaders, one official at the foreign ministry said.

As she was in Delhi for her regular check up, no formal meetings were planned, according to Deuba’s private secretariat.

But according to some Nepali Congress leaders, she tried her best to meet her counterpart, Jaishankar, and other Indian leaders in order to create a positive environment for the prime minister’s India visit, but her attempts were unsuccessful.

The prime minister’s office also expected foreign minister Deuba, with her profile and good connections in the Indian establishment, to be able to meet top Indian leaders and lay the ground for the prime minister’s India visit.

After the prime minister failed to secure an invitation from India, Oli went on his first bilateral visit to China in December first week and signed a framework for cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative.

According to a Nepali Congress leader closely following the dynamics between Oli and New Delhi, India appears uncomfortable with the deal Oli signed in Beijing, adding uncertainty to his Delhi trip. Also, there is unease in the Congress after the party leadership failed to maintain the party position of not taking loans under the BRI framework.

While in Delhi, Rana had addressed an Indo-Nepal economic conference, met some policymakers and discussed the future of Nepal-India relations. Despite getting no invitation from India, Oli, speaking in his hometown in the district of Jhapa, had declared that he would visit India soon.

“We have achieved good results from my China visit. Some people don’t believe I am going to India. But I am, and unexpected results will be achieved,” Oli had said.