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Nehru-Gandhi scion Varun Gandhi
wed graphic designer Yamini Roy Chowdhury in a simple
ceremony attended by a handful of people in a Varanasi temple on the banks of the Ganges.
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30-year-old Varun, who was in a cream 'kurta-dhoti' with saffron 'angvastram', got married to Yamini, a brahmin, at a ceremony in Kamakoti Temple at Hanuman Ghat in which
Kanchi Shankaracharya Swami Jayendra Saraswati participated.
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Yamini, who is from Shantiniketan in West Bengal and has studied in Delhi's St Stephens college and in France, wore a pink saree which had been gifted by Indira Gandhi to her daughter-in-law Maneka, an MP from Aonla in Uttar Pradesh, 40 years ago.
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BJP's Hindutva posterboy, Varun, who is an MP from Pilibhit, is the youngest grandchild of late Indira Gandhi and son of late Sanjay Gandhi.
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With shehnai playing amidst blowing of conch shells, the ceremony, presided over by six priests, took place in the presence of a select gathering that besides Maneka included the girl's mother Aruna Vasudev.
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Neither any senior BJP leader nor any one from Sonia Gandhi's family was present.
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A source close to Varun claimed that the BJP MP had met Sonia earlier to invite her for the reception. The marriage took place as per Sanatan-Hindu customs.
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Soon after the ceremony, the newly-weds took 'prasad' in the temple and then left for a hotel. Later they took a chartered flight for Delhi.
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The reception scheduled for March 8 in Delhi has been cancelled following the death of 77-year-old Amteshwar Anand, mother of Maneka, on February 28.
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The 'haldi' pre-marriage ceremony of Varun had taken place at the Kamakoti temple itself.
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Among others present at the marriage were Bansgaon MP Kamlesh Paswan, Varanasi Mayor Kaushalendra Singh and member of the Bijnore royal family Bharatendu Singh.
