At a time when Nepal’s parties are busy with negotiations to form a new government, foreign diplomats have started meeting political leaders on both sides of the aisle.

Indian Ambassador to Nepal Naveen Srivastava held talks with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Saturday, his second meeting with the Nepali Congress president in a week.

Srivastava had previously met with Deuba on November 26 and reportedly discussed the election results and the future of the governing coalition.

According to sources, during the meeting on Saturday, Srivastava wanted to know the latest update on the formation of the new government.

Srivastava also congratulated Deuba on successfully holding the elections and the emergence of the Congress as the largest party in terms of the House seats won, sources added.

“We can assume that they discussed government formation, the race to be the prime minister, and how power-sharing will go,” one of them said, wishing not to be named.

New Delhi has already said that it is ready to work with the new government in Kathmandu. Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, said last week that since Nepal and India enjoy close and cordial relations, India would work with any government in Kathmandu.

“We do not comment on the internal affairs of Nepal and election results are also coming,” he told reporters. On November 26, Srivastava also met with CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to congratulate him on his election victory and to discuss the course of Nepali politics from here on out.

Political parties, mostly from the Congress-led alliance, have ramped up efforts to form a government. Besides Deuba, there are several other aspirants for prime minister in the Congress.

Dahal has also expressed his desire to become the prime minister. Since Srivastava’s meeting with both Deuba and Dahal had no foreign ministry representative, there are no official records of their discussions. “We came to know about these meetings from the media,” a foreign ministry official said.

On Thursday, Dean Thompson, the US ambassador to Nepal, also met with Deuba and congratulated him for successfully holding the elections.