Amid worsening ties between the two countries, Nepal has dismissed its ambassador to India following allegations that he was colluding with India to overturn the KP Oli-led government, reported The Indian Express. Deep Kumar Upadhyay, a senior leader of the Nepali Congress party which is now in opposition in the country, was sacked from his post after he refused to resign, reported NDTV.

The newly formed Nepal government had warned Upadhyay at least twice “not to leave the station without informing the government, and not to indulge in partisan politics”, but he repeatedly defied the instructions, the English daily said, quoting a source. The decision comes after Nepal President Bidhya Bhandari’s visit to Delhi was cancelled at the last moment. Bhandari was scheduled to visit India next week.

“Upadhyay was here last week and quietly engaged in the unsuccessful game to topple the K P Oli government in close cooperation with a Congress party parliamentarian and a foreign diplomat. On Thursday morning, soon after the bid to topple the government failed in Kathmandu, Upadhyay was informed by Foreign Secretary Shankar Bairagi that President Bhandari’s Delhi trip had been cancelled, and in the next breath, Bairagi also asked him to put in his papers and come back as per the decision of the government,” the source told the newspaper.

In January 2015, the previous government led by Sushil Kumar Koirala chose Upadhyay for the post, which had been vacant since his predecessor was recalled by then Maoist government in August 2011, reported Economic Times.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party expressed concern over the growing anti-India rhetoric in the Himalayan nation. “Palace coup not new in Nepal. Growing anti-India rhetoric holding it responsible fr what actually was an internal power struggle is a concern,” party general secretary Ram Madhav said on Twitter.