'Osama' welcomes Lalu's guests at his daughter's wedding

New Delhi, May 1 (UNI) When political heavyweights and industry bigwigs went to attend Railway Minister Lalu Prasad's third daughter Chanda's wedding in the convention hall of Ashoka hotel last night, one thing they would never have imagined in their wildest dreams was that they would be greeted at the entrance by none other than 'Osama bin Laden'.

This 'Osama' may not be the world's most wanted terrorist, but he succeeded in giving a scare to all 'bedecked and bejewelled guests' whose jaws dropped at the sight of the world's 'most dreaded terrorist'.

Noor, Osama bin Laden's lookalike, is the same man whom Mr Prasad used for canvassing during the Bihar assembly elections.

''I am standing and welcoming the VVIP and VIP guests on the directions of Laluji and I hope instead of scaring them I am providing fun to them,'' Noor said.

Who's who of the political circles cutting across political spectrum were seen making a beeline to the venue of the wedding of Chanda to IIT Security Officer Capt B N Yadav's son Vikram Yadav, a pilot with Indian Airlines, and hugging each other.

The VVIPs who attended the wedding, included President A P J Abdul Kalam, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, JD(U) leaders Sharad Yadav, George Fernandes, entrepreneur Sunil Mittal and prominent media personalities.

The bride wore a deep pink heavily embellished lehenga with colour coordinated jewellery and a huge nose ring. The groom wore a cream churidar, sherwani and red turban. The Railway Minister sported a plain pyjama kurta while his wife Rabri stood out in a heavily sequinned beige-coloured saree greeting guests after the baraat (marriage procession) reached the venue at 2000 hrs.

The Jai Mala(exchange of garlands) took place at around 2130 hrs.

The cuisine was all Indian vegetarian for the guests to relish.

The guests were entertained by a live band playing old Bollywood numbers and famous anchor Shekhar Suman.

The function was a 'low-key affair' compared to the grandeur of the wedding of Mr Prasad's two daughters, Misa and Rohini, earlier. Still, an estimated 4,500 guests made it to the function.

There were also BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Social Justice Minister Meira Kumar and Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia. Mr Prasad moved around asking all the guests to have dinner but in between lost his cool when things started getting out of control and was seen rebuking some of his party workers.

But as soon as Mr Vajpayee made an entry, Mr Prasad asked the couple to come down from the podium to seek the blessings of the former Prime Minister, saving the veteran leader from the discomfort of getting on the dais as he had a knee problem.

Mr Prasad's party MLAs and MPs could be seen jostling and outdoing each other to get an entry and find access to the bride and groom to wish them.

The wedding reception will take place at Centaur Hotel at 2000 hrs tomorrow.

UNI RL AT KN1537