Nepali royalists plotting to incite ethnic unrest: minister

Hindu hardliners hope to encourage violence during festivals in country's south

The royal palace is plotting to cause religious and ethnic unrest in the country in a bid to stall planned elections, government sources said.

In the most eye-catching of the alleged plots, Hindu hardliners close to the king will lure larger than normal crowds of Indian holy men to a festival on February 16. According to the plot, a confrontation with Nepali police will then be contrived.

'They want to create a situation where the government has to react violently to discredit the government's Hindu credentials,' Cabinet minister Hridesh Tripathi said.

The idea is not as foolish as it sounds. Kathmandu is frequently affected by ill-explained rioting, apparently manipulated by shadowy political interests. 'We have very good information. The intention is to destabilise only the two months of Falgun and Margh [January 15 to March 14]. They want to postpone the elections until after the monsoon.'

King Gyanendra apparently fears voters, by choosing a republic in the June poll, will take revenge for his three years of failed absolute rule that ended last April. Postponing the polls would create more uncertainty that may affect the outcome.

The alleged conspiracy ranges from the bizarre to the frightening. Mr Tripathi and a different government source named palace agents who they say have been promoting communal violence in the country's south.