Sonia, Rahul to be invited for Varun’s wedding: Maneka

NEW DELHI/BADAUN - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family Varun Gandhi is all set to tie the nuptial knot this year and among the guests to be invited are his aunt Sonia Gandhi and cousin Rahul Gandhi, his mother Maneka Gandhi said Sunday.

The 30-year-old BJP national secretary and fiery orator will marry a Bengali girl, Yamini Roy, a fashion designer.

“Varun will get married to Yamini this year itself. All members of the Gandhi family including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul will be invited to attend the marriage function,” Maneka Gandhi told reporters in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun town.

If Rahul and his mother attend the function, it will bring together the estranged daughters-in-law - Sonia and Maneka - of the Nehru-Gandhi clan after many years of cold war.

The estranged daughter-in-law of the Gandhi family, Maneka had not attended Priyanka Gandhi’s marriage in 1997. But Varun who was a teenager then, was present at his cousin’s wedding.

Varun Gandhi is known as a fiery BJP politician who stirred controversy during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, inviting criticism after his communally charged speech at an election rally in Pilibhit.

Varun’s wife-to-be is originally from Shantiniketan and has graduated from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College. She pursued a fashion designing course at a university in France.

The marriage, likely in December, promises to be a major event in the political calendar.