Gadkari son wedding bash begins, entire Nagpur invited

It is said to be the biggest wedding Nagpur has ever seen with the whole town being ‘ invited’ to the reception. On Thursday, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari’s son Nikhil would marry Rutuja Phatak and while the wedding is said to be only open to close family members, the reception is said to be a grand affair with around two lakh people expected to attend.

While Nikhil (24) is an MBA and heads the Purthi group of industries that is mainly into power projects and sugar mills, Rutuja ( 22) is a Sanskrit student pursuing her MA. The marriage is an arranged one with the girl’s family being said to be middle- class.

The VIP guest list is said to be too long — BJP leaders like L. K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and others have confirmed that they would be coming to give blessings to the bride and groom. The whole Sangh Parivar, like top RSS and VHP leaders will be there. Besides, nine BJP chief ministers have been invited.

However, all eyes are on whether Congress president Sonia Gandhi who has also been invited will attend the function. Gadkari’s close aides said she might not attend the reception considering that Narendra Modi and many Sangh leaders would be present.

However, others Congress allies like NCP chief Sharad Pawar would be there. Ditto goes for Amar Singh. Singh here would also bump in to his on/ off friend actor Amitabh Bachchan. Around a 100- odd MPs, actors from the Indian film industry, top industrialists and businessmen are also likely to attend.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil, too, have been invited.

The wedding will also raise eyebrows in the BJP as well as the Sangh Parivar for the latter has always stressed on austere living. The wedding, which is said to be a ‘ low- key’ affair, itself will see around 2,000 close family and friends present at the Rajwada palace, the venue.

The reception for ‘ VVIPs’ will be held at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Cricket Ground lawn at Jamtha on Friday. The venue is apt as over 20,000 VVIPs are to be expected.

On Saturday, more than two lakh people are expected to attend another reception hosted for party functionaries and other ‘ commoners’ from Nagpur and across Maharashtra.