Kathmandu: Bollywood's actress Manisha
Koirala has made a high-profile visit to the memorial of her
grandfather B P Koirala, the first elected Prime Minister of
Nepal, fuelling speculation that the Nepali beauty was set to
join politics.
Manisha visited BP Memorial Museum in eastern
Kathmandu accompanied by her mother Sushma and father Prakash
Koirala, who is in political wilderness after serving in the
dethroned king Gyanendra's last cabinet.
"I honour the sentiments of BP Koirala, and after
visiting this museum I have got a sense of responsibility
towards my country," wrote Manisha, who spent over two hours
at the memorial.
Manisha, who recently arrived in the capital from
Kashmir where she has a shooting assignment, told reporters
that she has developed interest in politics and like Indian
superstar Amitabh Bachchan and other Indian
actors-turned-politicians she would also join active politics
to serve the nation in future.
The comments by the Bollywood actress is seen as
significant amid growing stature of Deputy Prime Minister
Sujata Koirala, the daughter of Nepali Congress president G P
Koirala, and the expulsion of Prakash from the party.
Prakash, a staunch royalist, was a minister in 2005
Gyananedra's cabinet. He was expelled by the Nepali Congress
for his support of Gyananedra's 2005-06 autocratic regime.
The Memorial site where Bishweshwor Prasad Koirala,
popularly known as 'B.P', the elder brother of Nepali Congress
supremo Girija Prasad Koirala, was jailed for eight years by
late King Mahendra has now been converted into a museum for
the popular leader.
One of the items on display at the museum, which was
established five years ago, was a 1960 era telephone set
gifted by Bangalore Telephone Company to B.P. when he was the
Prime Minister of Nepal.
Nepal abolished the 240-year-old monarchy last year
and has been struggling to establish a stable post-royal
government amid continuing deadlock among the political
parties.
The Maoists, who joined mainstream politics after a
2006 peace deal with the interim government led by G. P.
Koirala, have been blocking the Parliament and organising
protest rallies in the capital since Prachanda resigned on May
4 as Prime Minster after the President Ram Baran Yadav
reinstated Army Chief General Rukmangad Katawal, who has now
retired.
The political standoff has put new stresses on Nepal's
reconciliation efforts after the end of the decade-long
insurgency in 2006, amid fears that the stalled peace process
may be derailed if the Maoists agitation is not ended soon.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, October 18, 2009, 20:28