Ponty Chadha may be down but the liquor barons spirits must have certainly got a lift from the attendance at the wedding celebrations of his daughter here today afternoon. Even if top Uttar Pradesh politicians,including Mayawati,kept away following the recent Income Tax raids on his premises in the state,Chadha managed to get the entire Punjab political spectrum where the polls are over from the Akali Dals Sukhbir Badal to the Congresss chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh. Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala,Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav,BSP ex-MP Akbar Ahmad Dumpy,industrialist Vijay Mallya and businessman Suresh Nanda also rubbed shoulders with the 2,000-odd guests at the Chadha farmhouse in Chhattarpur. While present in the same flower-bedecked arena,Badal Jr and Amarinder effortlessly ignored each other. Sufi singers from Pakistan entertained the guests along with the Raga Boys (from the Patiala gharana),performing for the first time in Delhi. Last night,the mehndi ceremony of bride Harleen,getting married to Harmann,had seen a performance by Kailash Kher. The dignitaries,including Delhi minister A S Lovely,were ferried to the venue in golf carts. Chadha,who has made his money in both liquor and construction,however,didnt serve any drinks. Liquor will flow later, chuckled one of his close aides.
