It was a power packed show at BJP national president Nitin Gadkari's second son's wedding reception here.
From national leaders to state satraps, business honchos and bureaucrats, all were present at the reception of Sarang and Madhura.
The reception saw bigwigs turning up well before others stormed in. Senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitely followed by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar were among the early comers at the function.
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who visited for nearly six minutes, was also among those who turned up early.
Soon after that NDA convenor, Sharad Yadav and senior party leader L K Advani also arrived. Later, leaders from different parties started pouring in at the convention hall of Ashok Hotel in Chanakyapuri.
BJP Chief Ministers like Narendra Modi from Gujarat, Chhattisgarh CM, Raman Singh, Himachal CM, Prem Kumar Dhumal, Karnataka CM, D V Sadanand Gowda, Goa CM, Manohar Parrikar were among others at the reception.
Narendra Modi remained the centre of attraction till the time he stayed at the venue. He was surrounded by media and other leaders from across party lines for most of the time at the reception.
Among the Congress Chief Minister’s were Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan and Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit present at the occasion.
Former President, APJ Abdul Kalam also graced the occasion and presented the newly wedded couple two copies of his latest book, ‘Turning Points: A journey Through Challenges’.
Presidential candidate, PA Sangma came with his daughter Agatha Sangma, who is also a Minister of State in the UPA government.
Vice President, Hamid Ansai, RIL Chairman, Mukesh Ambani, Hero group MD, Pawan Munjal, Subroto Roy Sahara, Essar Group Chairman, Shashi Ruia were among others present.
A large number of UPA ministers and senior Congress leaders were also present, among them were Vilasrao Deshmukh, Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, Political Secretary to Sonia Gandhi Ahmed Patel, Defence Minister A K Antony, Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office V Narayanswamy, Junior Minister in Commerce Ministry Jyotiraditya Scindia, IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari.
However, there were very few celebrities from Bollywood, who turned up for the reception. Most of them who had turned up were those who are associated with political parties. Vinod Khanna, Smriti Irani, Hema Malini and Poonam Dhillon were prominent among those from Bollywood.
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