Prachanda meets S.D. Muni, K.V. Rajan in Singapore

PRACHANDA MEETS KOIRALA, INDIANS, CHINESE 

IN SINGAPORE 

REF: KATHMANDU 1090 

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Randy W. Berry. Reasons 1.4 (b/ 

d). 

¶1. (S/NF) During his November 16-18 trip to Singapore, Maoist 

Chairman Pusha Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" met Nepali Congress 

leader G.P. Koirala, Indian diplomats, and Chinese officials. 

 Maoist head of international affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara 

and Nepali businessman Dinesh Manandhar accompanied 

Prachanda.  Manandhar (strictly protect) told Emboff November 

30 that the Singapore-based telecommunications company Smart 

Telecom paid for airfare (business class), vehicle rental 

(BMW), and hotels (Four Seasons) for the Maoist delegation. 

Manandhar -- who is personally close to Mahara but says he is 

not a member of the Maoist party -- is the local Nepali 

partner of Smart Telecom, and handled logistics for the 

delegation.  He did not participate in the meetings. 

¶2. (S/NF) According Manandhar, Prachanda met first with S.D. 

Muni, an Indian academic with long-standing ties to the 

Nepal's Maoists and the Government of India (GOI).  He then 

met retired Indian diplomat and former GOI Ambassador to 

Nepal K.V. Rajan, who was joined by a current "senior" GOI 

Foreign Ministry official, whom Manandhar did not know. 

Manandhar said that Muni organized the trip and facilitated 

the meetings with the GOI.  Prachanda also met twice with 

"Chinese officials" (NFI). 

¶3. (S/NF) Following the initial round of discussions with the 

Chinese and Indians, Prachanda met privately for thirty 

minutes with Nepali Congress head G.P. Koirala, who was in 

Singapore for medical treatment, at Koirala's hospital. 

Following the one-on-one meeting, Koirala's daughter and 

Maoist Mahara joined the two for another twenty minutes. 

(Note: Koirala told Charge November 25 that the two agreed to 

create a "high-level political mechanism" to promote the the 

peace process (reftel).  Kathmandu papers are rife with 

rumors that Koirala and Prachanda also agreed to replace the 

current government with a Maoist-Nepali Congress coalition 

government, although the ailing Koirala would face serious 

opposition to such a move from inside his party.  End Note.) 

¶4. (S/NF) Manandhar said that Prachanda was in a "very good 

mood" following the meetings and "celebrated" late into the 

night.  He was particularly pleased by the discussions with 

the Indian officials, who hosted a dinner for Prachanda on 

November 17. 

Prachanda does not truest his son Prakash 

¶5. (S/NF) Asked about whether Prachanda's son Prakash 

accompanied the delegation (as he often does), Manandhar said 

he did not because Prachanda did not trust him.  According to 

Manandhar, Prakash drinks heavily and is not reliable.

 

(Wikileaks.org)