Despite the ongoing cash crunch in the city, Kerala liquor baron Biju Ramesh managed to host an extravagant wedding for his daughter on Sunday night. Former Kerala Revenue minister Adoor Prakash’s son Ajaykrishnan, a Congress MLA from Konni, was the groom.
Ramesh is the chairman and managing director of the Rajadhani Group of Hotels. In October 2014, Ramesh had raised bribery allegations against former finance minister KM Mani. This comes days after mining baron and former BJP minister G Janardhana Reddy was in the news for having reportedly spent over Rs 500 crore on his daughter’s wedding.
Former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy and other Congress leaders were slammed by state party president VM Sudheeran for attending the engagement ceremony of Ajaykrishnan and Ramesh’s daughter. Adoor Prakash chose to remain mum on who from the Congress party would attend the wedding. He told The NewsMinute that it was upon the guests if they wanted to attend the wedding or not.
The wedding pandal was decorated to resemble Akshardham temple, while the entrance of the eight-acre venue was a replica of the Mysore palace, PTI reported. Playback singer Shweta Mohan reportedly performed at the wedding and more than 20,000 guests were invited, Ramesh told The Times of India.
Commenting on the shortage of cash for demonetisation, he said the workers employed at the wedding site have to be paid in cash on a daily basis. “Since there is a shortage of liquid cash, yes, we are facing difficulty in paying them,” he told TOI.
He also dismissed any allegations of using black money in the wedding preparations. “I’ve taken cash from my various businesses and borrowed cash from friends in the Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry, by issuing cheques to them,” he told the Deccan Herald.
On November 21, the Income Tax department officials raided the offices of Reddy’s mining company. Reddy as one of the main accused in the 2010-11 illegal mining scam in Karnataka. He served a 40-month sentence in jail and was released on bail in January 2015.
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