Thiruvananthapuram: Days after mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy shocked the nation with a Rs 500 crore wedding at the heights of penury brought about by demonetisation, Kerala is soon to witness a similar feat.
Congress leader and ex-minister Adoor Prakash’s son and liquor mogul Biju Ramesh’s daughter all set to tie the knot on Sunday amidst much pomp and fanfare and reports reveal that nearly 20,000 guests have already been invited to the wedding.
The wedding venue, set up in a sprawling eight acre premises, is modelled after Mysore Palace and the mandap is stylized to resemble Akshardham Temple.
The engagement ceremony triggered much controversy in Kerala after Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President, V M Sudheeran slammed former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and party leader Ramesh Chennithala for secretly attending the function.
When asked about the expensive wedding, during this period of cash crisis, Biju Ramesh claimed that the money was sourced from several businesses and did not deposit them in the bank as he was retaining it for the wedding. “I have no black money,” he added. However he refused to comment on the total budget of the wedding. When asked about the invitations send to former cabinet colleagues, Adoor Prakash said he invited some and avoided some. He refused to comment about the wedding, “I should not comment on my son’s marriage.”
The Congress leaders attending this wedding would hence be keenly watched.
Biju Ramesh is the chairman of famous hospitality chain Rajdhani Group and owner of scores of bars. Earlier, Biju had raised bribery allegations against former Minister K M Mani in the previous UDF government, when Adoor Prakash was also the Minister.
Mani, who had to quit from UDF post the allegations also criticised the presence of Congress leaders at the function. He added that their presence at the function is a proof that the bribery allegations against him were a conspiracy involving Chennithala and Prakash.
