Surendra Pandey

Personal life

A CPN-UML’s central member and Ex- Finance Minister, Surendra Pandey was born on August 25, 1958 in Gajuri-8 of Dhading to parents of Netra Raj and Man Maya Pandey and grew up in Chitwan district. When he was of small age, his family moved from Dhading district and settled to Chitwan district.

Political career

Pandey was elected to the National Council in 1999, was the CA member in the first Constituent Assembly Election of 2008 from proportional representation. He was also the finance minister in the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government. Pandey then said his budget would focus on job creation, boosting law and order, creating a better investment climate and implementing power projects to end a crippling shortage of electricity that has stunted economic growth. Pandey is specially known within CPN-UML for his contributions towards assisting the party in developing economic reform plans. His economic development ideologies have appeared in numerous platforms putting him in the forefront of CPN-UML's economic policy planners.

Pandey's term at the Nepal Government as the Finance Minister was considered very successful thus thwarting initial skepticism. Thus CIAA's charges against Pandey on 4 December 2015 was understood as a personal grudge. It was believed that the then CIAA Chief Lok Man Singh Karki was furious over Pandey's position against CIAA's unconstitutional jurisdictional overstepping and thus pressed charges against Pandey as a show of power.