KATHMANDU: CPN Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” expressed ignorance as to why his meeting with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was canceled at the eleventh hour.

Talking to journalists at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), Kathmandu upon his arrival from the Indian capital of New Delhi, Prachanda said that he got the information that the meeting with PM Modi was canceled while he was on his way to the hotel in New Delhi after having a meeting with BJP President JP Nadda.

“We were supposed to meet with Prime Minister Modi in the afternoon,” Prachanda said, adding, “We hurriedly left at 1 pm but while on way to the hotel, we got the message that the meeting could not take place as planned.”

He said he did not know the reason behind the postponement.

He speculated that the meeting may have been postponed because of the flood situation in India and PM Modi’s workload.

Prachanda said, “I don’t even know why it didn’t happen in the last hour. But it doesn’t worry me.”

Prachanda was in the Indian capital at the invitation of India’s ruling BJP.

He, however, said that the Government of India and the Bharatiya Janata Party left no stone unturned to welcome him.

Prachanda, who returned home on Sunday after a three-day visit to India, said, “The respect and security provided by the Indian government and the BJP were no different than when I visited India in my capacity as the prime minister. I felt the same level of treatment.”