Kathmandu: The Koirala versus Koirala drama in Nepal took another twist on Monday when Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala's father Prakash Koirala was summoned by a high-level probe commission to answer questions about his role in abetting King Gyanendra's regime.
Prakash Koirala, though the son of Nepal's first elected Prime Minister Bishweswor Prasad Koirala and nephew of current premier Girija Prasad Koirala, chose to support King Gyanendra when the latter seized power through a coup last year and put Opposition leaders under detention.
Though Prakash Koirala's support counted for little since he enjoyed no broad-based support, the deficit was more than made up by his high-profile daughter Manisha, who too threw her weight behind the King.
The actress criticised Girija Prasad Koirala and the Opposition leaders for agitating against the King's rule and took time off from Bollywood to campaign during the controversial local polls held by the royal government in February.
In return for the support by the father and daughter, the King nominated Prakash Koirala minister for environment, science and technology.
However, the move backfired when a nationwide protest against the King's authoritarian rule forced the monarch to step down in April and Girija Prasad Koirala, whom the star and her father had flayed for allying with the Maoists, became prime minister for the fifth time.
The new government formed a commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Krishna Jung Rayamajhi to bring to book the royalist ministers and officials responsible for the atrocities committed on unarmed protesters during the anti-king demonstrations.
After a series of royalists, including the king's two former deputies and advisers, were grilled by the commission, it was Prakash Koirala's turn on Monday along with three more Cabinet colleagues and a security official.
Though Prakash Koirala's father and uncle are synonymous with the Nepali Congress, Nepal's largest party, he was, ironically, thrown out of the party after siding with the King.
When parliament was reinstated in April, Prakash Koirala was also stripped of his rank as a member of Parliament.
Along with him, his daughter too has come under censure in Nepal.
Youth organisations burnt her effigy for supporting the February polls and said they would prevent her films from being screened in Nepal.
With the sea change in Nepal's political scene, Manisha's plans to spend more time in Nepal and open a film city as well as star in the Nepali re-make of the Bollywood classic Mother India have been canned.
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