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Reddy’s daughter Brahmani is scheduled to
marry a businessman from Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday at a ceremony to be held
on the Palace Ground in Bengaluru.
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Janardhan Reddy
entertains 50,000 guests in palatial hall for daughter’s marriage
A dazzling array of diamonds, massive ornate replicas of
elephants befitting grand Dasara celebrations and rows of luxury cars decorated
with the priciest of orchids waiting outside the main hall.
It was an expensive wedding in Bengaluru, and it stood out in
the present cash-strapped times.
The wedding of Brahmani, daughter of mining baron and former BJP Minister G.
Janardhan Reddy with Rajeev Reddy, a Hyderabad-based businessman, on Wednesday,
was surreal. A few streets away, people were lining up outside banks hoping to
get a few scarce 100-rupee notes.
Outside the palatial air-conditioned wedding hall stood a black
Rolls Royce.
After the glittering ceremony, lunch for non-VIP guests was
served in a separate hall in traditional banana-leaf style, with a 50-item
menu, while the VIPs had a more lavish spread of 100 items, a member of the
gourmet team said.
The day witnessed a steady stream of VIPs among the 50,000
guests at the event – political leaders from the BJP and Congress included.
The opulent wedding has invited sharp criticism. The guests
witnessed the ceremony on giant screens in the large hall. The first few rows
of seats (leather couches, unlike the chairs for the rest of the crowd) close
to the stage were barricaded and reserved for ‘VIPs.’
When big names from politics and the film industry arrived, they
drew whistles from the visitors. Former Karnataka Chief Minister and State BJP
president B.S. Yeddyurappa, who made his second appearance at the lavish
wedding on Wednesday, drew a massive response.
The hosts had invited leaders cutting across party lines. Apart
from several State BJP leaders, even those from the Congress government came,
including Home Minister G. Parameshwara. Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai
Vala also made a quick visit.
However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the central BJP
leadership were conspicuous by their absence.
A large number of people had traveled from Ballari for the
wedding.
The sheer number of people left the dining area in chaos. Scores
of guests jostled to get their hands on the tambula, fruit salad and paan. The
food menu from the ‘Karnataka’ and ‘Andhra’ kitchens not reaching ‘non-VIPs’ in
full also led to some disappointment.
Amidst the chaos, several people lost some of their belongings.
These included wallets, mobile phones and helmets. Even on the dais, there was
drama as bouncers reportedly found someone attempting to pick a guest’s pocket.
Modest return gifts
Some visitors to the big
Reddy wedding were disappointed with the return gifts.
Tucked into two medium-sized paper bags were two saplings —
tulsi and sandalwood — and a box of sweets. That prompted some people to pick
up multiple bags.
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