All roads are leading to Saifai, the ancestral village of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, which has been decked up to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other VVIPs for the ‘tilak’ ceremony of Tej Pratap Yadav, the grand-nephew of the SP leader on Saturday. Tej Pratap, SP MP from Mainpuri, is to marry Raj lakshmi, the youngest daughter of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief lalu Prasad in New Delhi onFebruary 26.
Saifai, has virtually turned into a fortress, as security personnel have been deployed in each corner in view of the presence of more than 5,000 VVIPs. Apart from the Prime Minister, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, UP Governor Ram Naik, BJP president Amit Shah and Congress president Sonia Gandhi have also been invited for the tilak function to start at 0800 hrs tomorrow.
More than 1.5 lakh people have been invited to attend the opulent pre-wedding bash. The bride would not be present during the Tilak function but lalu Prasad’s family will be there with her wedding trousseau in a symbolic gesture of her presence. lalu reached Saifai along with is relatives in a tourist bus. SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, MP Ram Gopal Yadav and other family members welcomed lalu.
“lalu is carrying ‘ Tilak’ with him for Satuirday’s ritual,” Dharmendra yadav, the cousin of groom, said. Special arrangement has been made for lalu’s night stay in makeshift swiss cottages which has been named as ‘ Biharpuram’. To entertain the guests a musical night was organised where renowned Singer Adnan Swami performed. A Delhi based company Touchwood Entertainment has been given responsibility to organize musical night in which several renowned artists from the Bollywood and television would give performance.
The stage for the Tilak ceremony would be lighted up with laser light. The function would be telecast live through eight big lED screens. Among the invitees are Amitabh Bachchan and his family, several Bollywood stars like Salman Khan, Muzaffar Ali and others. Several senior political leaders of UP will also visit Saifai on the occasion. Almost all the UP ministers and legislators have also been invited for the function.
The grand tilak function would have a modern theme with German Hanger style tents to cover 80,000 square feet of open space. Delicacies with focus on Indian cuisines by chefs from Delhi and Mumbai are being readied and a guest list of top names from Indian politics, industry and films is being drawn up.
Meanwhile stringent security measures have been made for the ceremony, where the SPG, the elite security force of the Prime Minister has already taken up its position. More than 500 Close Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) as per the requirement have been fitted in Saifai and its adjoining places to keep a close watch on the anti-social elements.
IG Administration D Prakash said 11 companies of PAC,and two companies of Rapid Action Force(RAF) haave been rushed to the venue. Besides, eight Superintendent of Police(SP), seven Additional SP, 20 Deputy SP, 40 Inspectors, 210 Sub Inspectors, 50 head constables, 900 constables and 50 women constables will be deployed on the venue in view of security.