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KOLKATA — A shock political shakeup in Nepal is set to push the Himalayan nation closer to Beijing, aggravating a bitter China-India rivalry as the giant neighbors jockey for influence across South Asia.
Nepal’s prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, popularly known as Prachanda, surprised Indian observers last week when he ditched his Delhi-leaning coalition partner for staunch China ally K.P. Sharma Oli, head of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist).