Nepal's opposition parties hit upon a novel way of shaming King Gyanendra's deputy and the second-most senior minister in the cabinet, who along with his wife are mired in allegations of not repaying bank loans.

They went a-begging in Nuwakot in central Nepal, saying they were trying to raise funds to help the minister repay his debts.

Dr Tulsi Giri, a three-time former prime minister and a royalist close to King Gyanendra as well as his father, the late king Mahendra, has found himself embroiled in a raging controversy after a Nepalese weekly, Drishti, published a report saying Giri was the chairman of the board of directors of a company that took NRS 2 million as loan from a government-owned bank nearly two decades ago but never paid it back.

The hardliner Giri left the country in 1986 and stayed abroad till he was brought back from political exile by King Gyanendra in February and nominated vice-chairman of the council of ministers.

While the new government headed by the king has begun a campaign against key former ministers, including deposed premier Sher Bahadur Deuba, charging them with pocketing or misusing money from the state funds, so far no action has been taken against Giri.

The controversy about Giri received a fresh twist this week with two leading dailies reporting that Giri's wife Sarah Giri too is involved in a loan default scam. She was a shareholder in a local company, General Electronics, that took a loan of NRS 4.12 million from the same bank over 20 years ago but never returned the money.

As clamours arose in the capital for the minister's resignation, he refused to be daunted and denied any wrongdoing.

To shame him, Nepal's major opposition parties said they have started a fund-raising campaign in Nuwakot to help the minister repay the loans. The novel 'Suka Mohor Sankalan' - penny pitching campaign - started Monday in the local market square where people were asked to chip in with sukas - 25 paise coins - and mohors - 50p coins.

The opposition begging bowl yielded over NRS 175 with the highest "donation" said to be coming from a beggar who contributed NRS 2. The parties bought a draft for the collected amount and mailed it to Giri, the Kathmandu Post daily reported Tuesday.

The campaign marks the start of a movement likely to snowball.

In the capital, lawyers Monday organised a protest programme before the office of the district administration, demanding Giri's resignation. The opposition ire also stems from the fact that a probe panel nominated by King Gyanendra, the Royal Commission for Corruption Control, has put Deuba and a former minister, Prakash Man Singh, under detention for alleged irregularities in a multi-million dollar drinking water project.

The political parties say the commission has been formed to rein in the king's critics and assassinate their characters.