Saifai, Uttar Pradesh: Saifai, the native village of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, is all decked up as it gears up for arguably its biggest wedding so far. The SP chief’s grandnephew and parliamentarian Tej Pratap Yadav is marrying Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s youngest daughter, Raj Laxmi. A pre-wedding ‘Tilak‘ ceremony is being held today.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the most talked-about guest at the event. The hosts,
Mulayam and Lalu, have been bitter critics of PM Modi and had even launched an agitation against his government in December last year.
“We are happy and honoured to have the PM as our guest but we oppose his ideology,” said the groom, Tej Pratap Yadav.
Several VVIPs including Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu are also expected to attend today’s event. Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and businessman Anil Ambani are also among the other big names who are likely to fly down for the function today.
The dignitaries are scheduled to land at the airstrip in Saifai from where they will cover a distance of about 11 km by road to reach the venue of ceremony; barricades have been put up along the entire route.
Over a lakh people are expected to attend the function.
Around 2,000 policemen and paramilitary personnel have been deployed in the village for security and ensuring smooth traffic movement.
“Everyone is talking about this match. Mulayam Singhji didn’t ask for even one paisa from us – when hearts meet, money has no place,” an ecstatic Lalu Prasad said on Friday..
Reacting to criticism over the extravagant affair, Tej Pratap said, “Too much money has not been spent.” When asked about allegations that the Samajwadi Party had betrayed their ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia’s socialist ideology, the groom said, “Those days are gone when people could go around the constituency on a cycle”.