Gujarat confidential: For Diamond Baron

A day after he filed his nomination as a BJP Rajya Sabha candidate from Gujarat, Surat’s diamond baron Govind Dholakia was in Bhubaneshwar on Friday, sharing stage with former vice-president of Guatemala, Cesar Guillermo Castillo Reyes.

Both were receiving the KISS Lifetime Achievement Awards given away by Kalinga Institute of Social Science University. While the chief guest at the event was former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, he could not make it because of ill-health.

The award was thus given away by university founder Dr Achyuta Samanta. To everyone’s surprise, Dholakia chose to address the gathering in Hindi.