Double date

On the day Haryana's date with its electorate was announced, CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda's son Deepender's date with his bride-to-be was also on. Almost like the grand political alliances of the past, Haryana's ruling Jat family tied the knot with the reigning Rajasthan Royals, at least in Jat terms.

As she radiantly received a seemingly endless stream of well-wishers, mid-town Delhi buzzed inside a cavernous pandal appropriately air conditioned and heaving with paparazzi, family, food and bandobast. The ring ceremony was performed when Sonia Gandhi arrived.

From Priyanka and Robert Vadra to Farooq Abdullah, from Jitendra Singh of Alwar (Rahul's new favourite) along with several young ministers unmindful of impending elections, CM Hooda was, for an evening at least, just a doting father as he received
guests including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni, Amarinder Singh, Praful Patel, Motilal Vohra and Ahmed Patel, along with his graceful wife Asha.

The Prime Minister, who came nearly at the fag end, stayed just long enough to make his presence noticed.

Anxious skies
Striking Jet Airways pilots clearly had Naresh Goyal on the run. But Delhi was wondering whether Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel would intervene once again to help the owner. But formal meetings apart, Patel stoically refused to take sides. Delhi of course always loves a good fight. And the pilots certainly gave Goyal a good one.

The quiet buzz around the standoff, of course, is the lingering doubt of whether something in Jet's original shareholder agreement prevents the possibility of a union being permitted in the airline. Forget constitutional niceties, Goyal's baniya-like anxiety, of course, is the fact that his insurance and borrowing rates will go up if he has a tough union on
his back.

Meanwhile, of course, other airlines had a great time fleecing hapless passengers but the pre-festive season strike should keep Delhi's airline regulators anxious. Air India, getting tough on its own pilots, could easily be a victim next. But then Praful Patel will have to take his eyes off politics and worry about planes in the air instead.

Dilip Cherianu00a0is lobbyist, celebrity creator and tycoon watcher. He currently parties on a 24/7 schedule that mixes cities nixes bores, and analyses Dilli. He's widely regarded as India's Image Guru