NEW COMMERCE MINISTER MAY STRAIN MADHESI UNITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 002012 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/21/2017 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR ECON NP SUBJECT: NEW COMMERCE MINISTER MAY STRAIN MADHESI UNITY Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Randy W. Berry. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). New Commerce Minister Named -------------- ¶1. (U) Prime Minister G.P. Koirala swore in Shyam Sundar Gupta of the Madhesi-based NEPAL Sadbhavana Party-Anandi Devi (NSP-A) as Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies on November 20. The post had been vacant since Rajendra Mahato resigned on September 30 after the Election Commission denied his faction's claim to be the official NSP-A. Gupta is the third Commerce Minister since April 2006. Biographic Information: Shyam Sundar Gupta -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Gupta has been General Secretary of the NSP-A since July 2007. Within the past several months he has gained the confidence of Anandi Devi Singh, the NSP-A's figurehead president and widow of the party's founder. Gupta is now regarded as the leading force in the NSP-A. He is not a member of the Interim Parliament, and Industry, Commerce and Supplies is his first ministerial position. A businessman by trade and a smuggler by reputation, Gupta began his political career in the NEPAL Sadbhavana Party after the restoration of democracy in 1990. He was elected to the House of Representatives from Rupandehi District the following year. He was born to a family of modest means on July 1, 1957 in the western Terai border town of Bhairahawa, Rupandehi District. Gupta graduated from Tribhuvan University in 1972 with a Bachelor's degree in science. He has two wives and eight children -- four daughters and four sons. Comment: Driving the Wedge Deeper -------------- ¶3. (C) Gupta's appointment probably will further alienate former Commerce Minister Mahato from the official NSP-A, straining Madhesi unity in the process. There has been no love lost between the two men: each has publicly accused the other of corruption and conspiracy to disintegrate the Terai. Mahato in recent weeks has announced plans to form a militant Madhesi youth wing and an umbrella organization for all Madhesi groups -- including armed factions -- before the Constituent Assembly election, and possibly launch a third people's movement if the government continues to dilly-dally over polls. While any attempt to unite violent separatists and various Madhesi political factions would have limited success, a new campaign by Mahato would only add to the cacophony of groups striving to be the Madhesi voice. BERRY