From correspondents in West Bengal, India, 03:02 PM IST

Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) leader Baburam Bhattarai will meet West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee here this month.

'Bhattarai is coming to India June 22 to meet his old friends in the country. He wishes to meet Bhattacharjee as well,' Nepal's consul-general Suresh Menon told reporters late Tuesday.

'I had an informal discussion with Bhattacharjee at the Writer's Building where I informed him about Bhattarai's two-day trip. A date and time for the meeting have not been fixed,' said Menon.

Menon expressed hope that the dwindling number of tourists from West Bengal to Nepal will go up once they realise that the country continues to be political stable and safe.

'Of the 96,000 Indians who visit Nepal every year, the majority are from Bengal. Recently the number has gone down due to political unrest. We are sure Bhattarai's visit will help (reverse the situation),' he said.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)