THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi kept the chefs at Hotel Mascot on tenterhooks for a few hours ever since he checked in to his suite room 216 at 7:30 pm.
Until 9:30 pm, the chefs were in the dark about the menu. Though the Special Protection Group did the security check in the morning itself, they did not inform the hotel authorities about the menu.
A senior hotel official told DC that they are ready to cook anything at short notice though the dinner buffet having a lavish spread of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes have been kept ready. With the UDF allies and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy waiting to hold talks with Rahul well past 9:30 pm, it was the chefs who were getting restless.
“We are waiting for the call of the SPG to brief us about Rahul Gandhi’s requirement for dinner. Since he will be taking his dinner in the suite, we don’t think he would take buffet.
Still, we are ready to cook whatever he demands. SPG staff have occupied the adjacent room next to his suite”, said Ajith. P. Nair, assistant manager to DC.
Suite room at 216 has always been provided to VVIP’s like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior BJP leader L. K. Advani when they were here last year and early this year coinciding with the Lok Sabha election campaign.
The last time Rahul stayed back overnight in the capital city was during early 2011 April when he came for the assembly election campaigning. Then Rahul stepped in to a private hotel, unannounced at Kaudiyar.
He had Kerala appam, fish curry, parata, prawn pepper fry, paneer butter masala, mint lime juice and ice-cream then. Unfortunately the same hotel has been closed for quite some time now after they received notice from food safety officials and is facing renovation work.
