Papa Gadkari's wedding gift to son: Rs 9 cr bungalow, BMW sedan

After managing to raise many eyebrows for holding a wedding reception that was easily Nagpur’s most extravagant affair, Gadkari is believed to have gifted his son a palace-like mansion worth Rs 9 crore and a BMW sedan on his wedding.

It is also reported that an additional Rs 4 crore was spent on renovating and refurbishing the bungalow.

For two days, papa Gadkari threw a lavish wedding reception for his son. While Friday party witnessed the presence of the who’s who of the Indian politics and business, Saturday’s wedding reception held at the Reshambagh stadium here received nearly one and a half lakh guests.

On Friday alone, the Nagpur airport received more than 50 chartered aircraft, even as the BJP chief himself kept three helicopters on standby for ferrying any important guest to any destination.

The invites for the Friday’s reception have reportedly cost Rs 1 crore and were sent to all those who matter in shaping India’s policies, be it politicians, businessmen or celebrities.
Many of them turned up for the function. Among them were Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, Gujarat’s Narendra Modi, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh  and Madhya Pradesh’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan among BJP bigwigs and industrialists.

Security cover

As the banquet lawns at the Vidarbha Cricket Association on the outskirts of Nagpur lit up at dusk on Friday, 17 SPG protectees, 40 invitees with blackcat commandos to protect and at least 150 guests with ‘Z’ category security attended the reception.

In addition, over 1,400 policemen were put on duty at the Friday’s reception venue. The stage wore an elegant floral white look, complementing the maroon and red the bride and groom wore for the evening.

There was also a sprinkle of industrialists with the Hinduja brothers, liquor baron Vijay Mallya and Rahul Bajaj.

Amar Singh was among the last to arrive but his arrival with Jaya Prada added to the cross section of politicians who virtually took over the evening in the “orange city” with the “lal battis”.

Director Madhur Bhandarkar and actors Poonam Dhillon, Hema Malini and Shatrughan Sinha were perhaps the only bollywood connections.

A separate buffet was arranged for the VVIPs and another one for the VIPs. On the menu was a mix of South Indian, Italian, Chinese, though Punjabi spread dominated the buffet.

However, the lavish celebration has made many pro-BJP intellectuals and supporters very uncomfortable, especially with Gadkari who has always wanted his party leaders to keep a low profile as far as personal things are concerned.

Columnist Swapan Dasgupta tweeted: “It doesn’t behove BJP president to celebrate son’s wedding in such a scale. Sets wrong precedent. Gadkari has seriously erred.”