All roads lead to Nagpur for Gadkari son’s wedding-Indian Express

All roads lead to Nagpur for Gadkari son’s wedding

Vivek Deshpande
Posted: Dec 01, 2010 at 0339 hrs
http://www.expressindia.com/story_print.php?storyId=718366

1.“About 2.5 to 3 lakh people are expected to come on that day.
2.Nearly 20 chartered flights will land in Nagpur to bring in the guests. At least 18 VVIPs entitled to Z-category security are expected to attend the marriage reception.
3.top industrialists like Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Rahul Bajaj and Amitabh Bachchan. Many other industrialists and filmstars are coming

Nagpur On December 3, top BJP leaders will take a break from the Parliament logjam and head for Nagpur. So will senior NCP and Shiv Sena leaders, top industrialists, Sangh leaders, chief ministers of several states and other VVIPs. The occasion: not any mega political conclave but the wedding reception of BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s son Nikhil. Nikhil, who looks after Gadkari’s Purti Group of Companies, will marry Rutuja Pathak, a middle-class Nagpur girl, on December 2.

While the wedding will be a private affair with family members and a few other guests attending, VIPs and the political fraternity will be hosted at a reception the next day. The venue: the lawns of Vidarbha Cricket Association’s Jaamtha stadium, which recently hosted a India-New Zealand Test match.

Over 2,000 guests are expected to grace the occasion. “We have confirmation from top industrialists like Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Rahul Bajaj and Amitabh Bachchan. Many other industrialists and filmstars are coming,” sources at Gadkari’s residence said. Nearly 20 chartered flights will land in Nagpur to bring in the guests.

Among the big names are L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Shatrughan Sinha, Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu, Narendra Modi, B S Yeddyurappa, Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Murli Manohar Joshi.

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, MNS leader Raj Thackeray, Union Aviation Minister Praful Patel and several senior Congress leaders are also expected to attend the reception. An invitation has also been sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, sources said.

Asked if top RSS functionaries will attend the function, sources said, “Yes, all are coming.”

On December 4, party workers and local office-bearers from across the country have been invited for dinner at the Reshimbag ground. “About 2.5 to 3 lakh people are expected to come on that day,” sources said.

Gadkari’s Purti Group of Companies, worth at least Rs 1,000 crore, controls sugar mills, power units, an ethanol plant, a solvent extraction plant and a supermarket chain.

The BJP chief calls his empire social entrepreneurship and claims his group has been running the businesses in loss to support Vidarbha farmers from whom he buys cane.

And while the mega-event goes on for three days, the Nagpur Police will have a difficult time organising security since it coincides with the winter session of the State Legislature beginning on December 1. A three-tier cordon comprising 9,000 policemen and over 1,200 officers has been deployed.

At least 18 VVIPs entitled to Z-category security are expected to attend the marriage reception.

Nagpur Commissioner of Police Ankush Dhanvijay had said at a recent press conference that there were inputs about a possible Naxal attack. “The DGP office in Mumbai has sent an input that a Naxal special action team might make pointed attacks. Naxals are, hitherto, not known to have done anything of this kind anywhere. Yet, we are not taking any chances,” a senior police officer said.