| A country without a national anthem, national day or national crest... and an empty treasury. This is what Girija Prasad Koirala will represent when he comes to India tomorrow as the new, but old, prime minister of the Himalayan nation. |
| Money will be the centrepiece of talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and 86-year old Koirala. |
| Although the size of the financial package is yet to be firmed up, Nepal has told India it wants the first foreign visit to be high-profile and historic, as it comes when Nepal is about to shed the last vestige of a formal monarchy. |
| Koirala's visit is intended to reinvent Nepal. Traditionally, the king's birthday (7 July) used to be celebrated as Nepal's national day. |
| The Koirala government is likely to designate 12 February (the day in 1959 Nepal got its first constitution under then Prime Minister BP Koirala ) as the new national day. |
| Bureaucrats accom-panying Koirala are carrying visiting cards with the ink barely dry - new ones had to be printed minus the legend 'His Majesty's Royal Government of Nepal', that used to be a mandatory description for civil servants. |
| The emblem - a crest comprising feathers, a crown, etc - will be changed as soon as the government can find a replacement. Nepalese scho-ols and colleges no longer play the national anthem for obvious reasons. |
| It begins: "May Glory Crown You, Courageous Sovereign (Shri-man Gambhira Nepali Prac-handa).." No anthem will be played when Koirala is here. |
| However, for Koirala this will be an anxious visit on several counts. First, his meetings with his Indian counterpart have been staggered to accommodate health requirements - already frail, Koirala suffered a broken rib during a lathicharge by the armed police during the February protests. |
| That, with the blow on the head that had to be stitched up, has left him weak and in need of frequent doses of oxygen. |
| He was to have been feted at a public function but that plan has been abandoned because he cannot stand without support for long spells. Instead of the customary lunch, the PM will throw a dinner banquet for him. |
| India wants to build roads, bridges and help create medical facilities in Nepal. The first test of Koirala's visit back home is how much money he can get from India. India is unlikely to hold back. |
| This is because last week, Koirala's daughter Sujata was on national TV to say 'Papa' would go to Bangkok for medical treatment. The next morning the cabinet cleared Koirala's visit to New Delhi. |
| Military aid is unlikely to be mentioned in this visit. Already the Maoists have declared that if India really wants to help the Nepalese people it will have to suspend aid to the Army. |
| However, India is likely to let its disquiet be known plainly on other matters. Reports from Kathmandu say that the new government is planning to supersede the current Chief of Army Staff (Gen Pyar Jung Thapa), replacing him with a junior, also a Brahmin. India is likely to signal that it is inadvisable to meddle with military hierarchy. |
| When they have their one-on-one conversation, the two PMs will discuss a common challenge: the politics of the Maoists. Although a large delegation of ministers is coming with Koirala, this is going to be the overriding concern throughout the visit. Of course, not to forget the empty treasury. |
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