According to the division of responsibilities within the Cabinet, Prime Minister Balendra (Balen) Shah has taken charge of three ministries.
Previously, he was overseeing the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies. After dismissing Minister for Labor, Employment, and Social Security Deepak Sah on Thursday, that ministry has also come under his responsibility.
Among the ministries he oversees, PM Shah has assigned his close associate and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) lawmaker Sushant Vaidik to handle the day-to-day operations of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies.
Vaidik, who was elected from Pyuthan, has been regularly visiting the ministry for the past week. Although he is not an official minister, officials say he has been holding regular meetings with the ministry’s secretaries and joint secretaries and receiving briefings from offices and departments under the ministry.
According to ministry sources, Vaidik is also consulted for any necessary decisions to be taken. He provides instructions and receives daily reports on ongoing work.
A room has even been arranged for him for daily duties; he currently sits in the office of the commerce secretary. The ministry has two secretary-level positions – for industry and commerce. However, after the retirement of former commerce secretary Ram Prasad Ghimire, no replacement has been appointed. Vaidik now uses that space daily.
The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies oversees 24 corporations/institutes and 8 departments/offices. A source said that representatives from all these bodies report directly to Vaidik.
"He comes to the ministry every day. He holds discussions with the secretary, joint secretaries, and departmental heads from his office," a high-ranking official at the ministry told Setopati. "Offices and corporations under the ministry are also in continuous consultation with him."
A departmental director general added that Vaidik is the one gathering information and giving instructions regarding urgent matters.
According to a joint secretary at the minister, PM Shah himself assigned Vaidik the responsibility of overseeing the ministry’s operations.
"The prime minister has assigned him (Sushant Vaidik) the responsibility of looking after this ministry. He is playing the role of a facilitator between the prime minister and the ministry. He gives instructions on behalf of the prime minister. If an official decision is required, he takes it to the prime minister. This has made it easier for us to carry out daily work; otherwise, reporting daily activities would have been difficult," the official said.
Attempts to contact Vaidik for comment were unsuccessful. He did not respond to messages regarding his regular meetings and briefings at the ministry.
Who is Sushant Vaidik?
In the election held on March 5, the 31-year-old RSP candidate broke a long-standing leftist stronghold in Pyuthan to be elected as a member of the House of Representatives. He secured 27,469 votes, defeating Nepali Congress candidate Govinda Raj Pokharel, who received 18,338 votes.
Born on June 1, 1994, in Khaira, Pyuthan Municipality-1, Vaidik comes from a family with a political background. His father, Padam Prasad Vaidik, previously served as a member of the Judicial Council.
He began his education at Rapti Boarding School in Tulsipur, and completed his +2 in management from Pentagon International College in Kathmandu. He later pursued higher education abroad, earning a master’s degree from the Norwegian School of Economics in Norway. After returning to Nepal, he has been active in the fields of policy and economics.
After returning to Nepal from London, he served as an economic advisor to the Lumbini provincial government. After leaving the provincial government, he established Kathmandu Research Economics Pvt Ltd to pursue research.
Vaidik told Setopati recently that he has been assisting students of economics and political science with research and coordination through this institution. Currently, the firm is studying the government's minimum support price for paddy in Bardiya.
In the meantime, Vaidik was also active in the Gen Z movement last year. The movement, which took place on September 8 and 9, caused a major upheaval in national politics.
It was during the Gen Z movement that Vaidik had the opportunity to meet Balen Shah, then mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City. Later, both Shah and Vaidik joined the Rastriya Swatantra Party. Vaidik said that he became a central member of the party because he believed the RSP had embraced the demands of the Gen Z movement.
"Other parties did not embrace the issues of the Gen Z movement, but the RSP did," he told Setopati after his election. "I became a central member of the RSP with the belief that it would continue to embrace the issues of the Gen Z movement in the future."
Vaidik said that it was because of his acquaintance with Balen Shah that he secured the RSP ticket from Pyuthan.
