Rahul, Bilawal to meet over lunch

Apart from being members of two political families, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have also suffered similar tragedies in their lives. Both have lost a parent to assassins. Bilawal lost his mother, the charismatic Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007 when he was merely 19. Rahul, at 21, was just two years older than Bilawal when his father, former PM Rajiv Gandhi, was killed by the LTTE in 1991. The coincidences don’t end there. Both have also lost a grandparent each, again in brutal circumstances. Bilawal’s grandfather, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was hanged to death during the regime of President Zia- ulHaq in 1979 after he was deposed by the latter in an Army coup. Rahul’s grandmother, Indira Gandhi, was PM when she fell to assassins’ bullets in 1984.

Others invited to the PM’S lunch at 1 pm Sunday at his 7, Race Course Road residence are Cabinet members like defence minister A. K. Antony, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, external affairs minister S. M. Krishna and home minister P. Chidambaram. Among the Opposition leaders who have received an invitation are BJP leaders L. K. Advani and Sushma Swaraj. Also on the guest list are parliamentary affairs minister P. K. Bansal, who is the minister designated to accompany Mr Zardari. A brother of Mr Zardari is expected to be present at the lunch. Some other members of the Union Cabinet, and some MPS, too, have been invited. Also present at the lunch will be NSA Shivshankar Menon and foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai. The lunch will begin with the guests being served melon soup and then burra kebabs. Other items on the menu include the Kashmiri dish goshtaba. They also be served dosas and avial as also prawn prepared in the south Indian style. The dessert will comprise such delicacies as phirni and gur sandesh.