Tying the knot in Delhi, for Bihar

Bihar's bitter political foes came together willingly today, posing happily for the cameras. The occasion: the wedding of LJP chief Ram Vila...

Bihar’s bitter political foes came together willingly today, posing happily for the cameras. The occasion: the wedding of LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s daughter Nisha and Arun, son of senior Bihar Congress leader Jyoti, which visually turned into a UPA get-together.

A beaming LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan watched as Congress president Sonia Gandhi, RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and CPI leaders A.B. Bardhan and D. Raja (the only Left representatives) stood on a specially constructed stage at 12 Janpath as the bride and bridegroom exchanged garlands. Paswan had waited for the Congress president to arrive — with daughter Priyanka and son-in-law Robert Vadhra — for the ceremony to begin.

Soon, UPA leaders were seated on sofas inside the shamiana while JDU leader George Fernandes stood outside; BJP president L.K. Advani came and left without entering the shamiana.

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Bardhan met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh. ‘‘I am meeting him after a long time,’’ he said, later. Fernandes also met Yadava and the two huddled in a corner for quite some time. Laloo, who was in the limelight, went off to another corner, only to emerge shaking hands with arch rival Ranjan Yadav before leaving. But the Railway Minister met Bardhan and Raja, opening with ‘‘Should I do a lal salaam?’’

Laloo scoffed at questions on his attending the wedding. ‘‘Did you think that I wouldn’t come? I had to come.’’

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur arrived after the Congress president left. Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Union ministers Shivraj Patil, P.Chidambaram, Dayanidhi Maran, Sharad Pawar, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Arjun Singh, Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit were also present.

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