PEOPLE-JITIN PRASADA-WEDDING

Wedding bells for Jitin Prasada; to say 'I do' on Feb 16

By Shabbir Ahmed & Gurdip Singh

New Delhi, Jan 17 (UNI) Love since time immemorial has transcended religions, regions, classes and other barriers.Come February 16, two days after the Valentine's Day, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Jitin Prasada will exchange vows with Lucknow-based girl Neha Seth, a political journalist, in a blissful culmination of a four-year courtship with her.For the first time, an Indian Minister while being inoffice will be walking down the aisle.This may seem strange to foreigners, too used to seeing youngpoliticians in office and far too familiar with affairs of people in public life. These include former assassinated US President John F Kennedy, former US President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's affair and later marriage with Carla Bruni, a model.India is, by and large, a conservative country where people inpublic life are shy of throwing in the limelight their private affairs. For this can have disastrous consequences for the image of theperson concerned and may mar his or her prospects at the hustings.Demure Neha, formerly a television journalist, has pleasing looks, sharp features, a disarming smile and what have you. Mr Prasada, 36, is known to be close to Mr Rahul Gandhi, the youngest ever General Secretary of the Congress and the son of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.It appears that some of the friends of Mr Gandhi are bidding bachelorhood goodbye to enter into wedlock.Recently, Mr Milind Deora, son of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, got married. Mr Prasada and Ms Seth have been going around for some years now, with the two finally deciding to become partners for life.The wedding is planned to be a grand and classy affair with many VIPs slated to attend it. Surprisingly, Mr Gandhi, like his father late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, has Greek God looks, but for some reasons best known to him, has decided to remain a bachelor so far.Neha is no stranger to the people of the country for having been a television journalist and later Media and Public RelationsAdvisor to former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje, a heavy-weight BJP leader.When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chose his Cabinet, it appeared that he had given preference to wise old men, whose experience was to be used for nation building. As always, there are two sides to a coin with many describing it as a lacklustre affair, where there will be no excitement but a continuation of all that is going on in the government.As things have turned out, it is in continuity with change in policy making, where there are no punches, hard knocks or excitement.Some were pleased to see new and young faces like Dr Shashi Tharoor, now Minister of State for External Affairs. All said and done, Dr Tharoor has given a new flavour to the Cabinet by his eloquence and excellent communication skills, notwithstanding the fact that his statements have now and then courted controversies.The reasons are not too far to see. Dr Tharoor contested the election of the United Nations Secretary-General and after losing by a narrow margin, decided to join Indian politics. He won his Lok Sabha seat from Thiruvananthapuram with a record margin. Dr Tharoor is an erudite writer with his popular columns appearing in many mainstream newspapers. Mr Prasada represents the Dhaurahra (Lok Sabha constituency) of Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh. A product of the rich man's school--The Doon School, Dehradun, Mr Prasada graduated in Honours in Commerce from the prestigious Sri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University, and completed his MBA from Indian Management Institute(IMI), New Delhi. His great grandfather, Jwala Prasada was a Colonial Civil Service officer and great grandmother Purnima Devi was the niece of Rabindranath Tagore.In his first tenure as a Member of Parliament, Mr Prasada was inducted as Minister of State for Steel and was one of the youngest ministers in the Cabinet. He was inducted into the Cabinet in April 2008.Mr Prasada's interests are varied and include bird watching and jungle safari. He likes films, music and reading, and has a taste for trying out different cuisines of the world and seeks recreation in interacting with friends and working on computer. Mr Prasada was just 27 when his father, Jitendra Prasad, a Congress leader and political advisor to former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Narasimha Rao, died. Life changed overnight for him. He quit his corporate job to be with his mother and later helped her contest the elections. Neha, too, has lived for long in Uttar Pradesh, having done her schooling from La Martiniere, Lucknow. Sources say that there was no opposition to the marriage from the families of the couple.After Mr Prasada joins the marriage club, just two ministers --Mr Mukul Wasnik and Agatha Sangma -- in the Union Cabinet will be left single. Those who have come to know about the wedding are wishing the couple well, including the community of journalists. History is not only made by big political decisions, but even more important by what happens to people in their personal lives.They say marriages are made in heaven and solemnised on earth. And it appears that Jitin and Neha will make a perfect couple.