The picture of Samajwadi Party Supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav walking with one of his arch political rivals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, holding each other's hands, is a sight which is otherwise unthinkable.
But, what is also being considered as one of the biggest photo-ops happened when the Prime Minister came to attend the "Tilak" (pre-wedding ceremony) of the SP leader's grandnephew and parliamentarian Tej Pratap Yadav on Saturday morning at Saifai, the native village of the SP chief.
Mr. Tej Pratap is marrying Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's youngest daughter.
What added to the politically significant scene was Lalu Prasad Yadav's handshake with the Prime Minister.
All the three leaders, otherwise arch rivals of each other, forgot their political differences and displayed a rare comradrie when they smiled, shook hands, chatted and walked together to the grand stage erected for the ceremony.
Prime Minister Modi chatted with the fathers of both the groom and the bride, and spent about 15 minutes on the stage while he waved to the crowd and showered petals on the groom as the ceremony was going on.
Modi's presence at the pre-wedding ceremony is being seen as his attempt to reach out to the Opposition, especially the SP which is leading the unification attempt of the 'Janata Parivar', ahead of the Budget session where the BJP Government needs numbers in the Rajya Sabha to pass crucial Bills.
Samajwadi Party leaders like Ramgopal Yadav, however, clarified that nothing much should be read into the Prime Minister attending the ceremony. “ It is a festive and happy occasion. It should not be associated with politics,” he told the media.
Tej Pratap also dismissed any political reading of the issue, and said: “ We are happy and honored to have the Prime Minister as our guest. But we oppose his ideology.”
Grand preparations have been made for the pre-wedding ceremony which is going to unite two of the most powerful political families of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
About 550 “superior quality” Swiss cottages inside a stadium, besides 250 “ordinary” cottages for 15,00 people on a college ground have been put in place. Food of ‘unmatched’ variety has been prepared for 1.25 lakh people. The arrangement for the ceremony where about 3,000 police personal have been deployed for the security of the high profile guests, has been personally supervised by UP chief secretary Alook Ranjan and DGP A.K. Jain.
The ceremony is expected to be attended by VVIPs including Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Superstar Amitabh Bacchan, industrialist Anil Ambani, Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav, West Bengal Governor Kesri Nath Tripathi and former SP leader Amar Singh, among several others.