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News of Jan
6, 2007
Nepal Crown Prince's Birthday Bash
Raises Eyebrows
By Sudeshna Sarkar
Kathmandu, Jan 6
The 36th birthday bash of Nepal's controversial Crown Prince Paras
has raised media eyebrows - for a different reason this time.
"Incredible!", wrote a Nepali weekly, commenting on the party that
was one of the most low-key celebrations the palace has seen in its
238-year-old history. "The crown prince parties in a five-star hotel
and yet there are no untoward incidents."
The Ghatana R Bichar weekly was obliquely referring to the brawls
Paras and his companions had kicked up in the past in nightclubs of
five-star hotels.
Hugely overshadowed by the hanging of former Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein, the birthday of the crown prince, once a newsmaker because
of his quick temper, went virtually unnoticed last Saturday.
When the Nepali weekly reported the bash, which was held at the
capital's five-star Soaltee Hotel, it expressed surprise at the
prince's conduct.
The party, a discreet family gathering attended by his royal cousins
and their spouses and few select guests, saw Paras staying away from
liquor.
Accompanied by his wife, Crown Princess Himani, Paras was the model
of propriety and courtesy, greeting his guests with folded hands,
the weekly said.
He went around offering drinks to the guests and was urged by them
to have one himself but all through, politely declined, the weekly
said.
Since the fall of King Gyanendra's government in April, the royals
have been reportedly advised by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala
to sit tight and do or say nothing that might incur fresh public
displeasure.
After one brush since then, when the crown prince was reported to
have hit a bus carrying a wedding party and did not stop to see the
damage done, Paras is said to have been behaving with restraint,
playing golf and throwing an occasional party for family members.
Besides the ouster of the royal government and a series of state
measures axing the powers of the king, the crown prince faces a big
question mark regarding his succession to the throne.
With the government gearing up to hold an election by June, when the
institution of monarchy will be put to vote, the prince faces the
prospect of becoming reduced to a commoner.
The year 2006 brought the peril closer when he was asked by officers
at the airport to pay duty on a parcel sent to him from Vienna, the
first time ever that any royal was asked to do so.
IANS
News of Jan
6, 2007
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