The much-hyped trilateral meeting of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Brics-Bimstec Outreach Summit in Goa, India, has been view sceptically not only in the opposition CPN-UML but the PM’s own party CPN (Maoist Centre).

Before leaving for China on Tuesday, Maoist Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha met PM Dahal in Baluwatar to express his dissatisfaction over the meeting. “It was a childish act to publicise that Nepal, India and China agreed for trilateral cooperation,” he told the PM.

The meeting may have taken place and the PM might have had a candid meeting with Modi and Xi but the way it came out—on the Facebook page of the PM’s son, was an immature act, Shrestha remarked.

“The way the information was leaked was a diplomatic blunder,” he told the Post before his departure for China at the invitation of the Chinese Communist Party.

He also criticised the PM’s statement at the Tribhuvan International Airport upon his arrival from India.

The PM had described his meeting with Xi as “dhunga khojda deuta milyo”, which translates into English roughly as “finding idol while looking for a stone”, giving a sense that Xi’s entry was a godsend for him.

Shrestha said the PM should have contained his excitement of meeting the Chinese president and the Indian PM together while making remarks.

UML Vice-chairman Bhim Rawal criticised the publicity of trilateral partnership as an undiplomatic act. During an interaction at the Reporter’s Club on Tuesday, Rawal said the PM’s claim did not last even 12 hours.

“The Indian side then and there rejected the claim of trilateral meeting and agreement on trilateral cooperation and partnership.”