High-flying politico flies from wedding to Vidhan Bhavan in 60 minutes

What would you do if fate conspired to make two of the most significant events in your life coincide on the same day within hours of each other but flung kilometres apart While most would resign themselves to cancelling any one event Muzaffar Hussain hired a chopper After juggling his daughterrsquos wedding with filing his nomination Muzaffar Hussain L threw a grand reception party for the newlymarried couple at Worli last evening PicShadab Khan This enterprising Congress man managed to pull off his daughterrsquos wedding at Mira Road and his nomination for the post of MLC Member of Legislative Council at Vidhan Bhavan all on the same day thanks to his elaborate and expensive method of skirting city traffic After his candidature was announced at 630 pm on Sunday by the Congress high command in Delhi it dawned on an exhilarated Hussain that the next day was going to be a nailbiting one Hussain had been nominated for the seat vacated by Hussain Dalwai after he was elected to the Rajya Sabha last year Former chief minister Ashok Chavan left greets the couple during a reception in Worli yesterday Muzaffar Hussain second from left looks on PicShadab Khan Undaunted by the seeming impossibility of the task Hussain rolled up his sleeves and made intensive minutebyminute plans for the following day In order to pull off the rare feat of covering the 45 km separating Mira Road on the cityrsquos northern fringes from Vidhan Bhavan at its southern tip in less than 45 minutes he chartered a chopper ride Each minute counted while his daughter Aafreenrsquos wedding was to be solemnised at 11 am followed by the big fat wedding lunch the deadline for filing nomination papers was a mere four hours later at 3 pm No latecomers allowed Hussain was glued to the phone till late on Sunday night ringing members of the groomrsquos immediate family and kin informing them about his candidature and requesting them to arrive at the wedding venue on time Realising that it was as big a day for the father of the bride as it was for the bride the guests cooperated Everything went like clockwork with guests and groom having reached the venue and ready for the nikaah by 1030 am 1100 am Muzaffar Hussain requested the groomrsquos family not to be late They arrived at 1030 am and the wedding took place at 11 am sharp in Shams Masjid on Mira Road Graphic Amit Bandre The marriage was solemnised right on schedule at the stroke of 11 at AlShams Jama Masjid in Mira Road But Hussain still had to pull off the wedding banquet Not resting a moment he personally requested all the invitees to have lunch at 12 pm taking special pains to ensure that the groomrsquos family members were the first to eat 1230 pm After solemnising the wedding and ensuring that the groomrsquos family was seated for lunch Hussain sped to a helipad in Bhayander for the chopper which dropped him at Mahalaxmi Race Course 35 mins later Going the distance Having overseen the arrangements for their meal he rushed to Subhaschandra Maidan in Bhayander West where his ride was waiting The chopper landed at the Mahalaxmi Race Course in precisely 35 minutes at 105 pm Hussain drove straight to Vidhan Bhavan where his papers were ready at his party office 105 pm After being dropped off by the helicopter at the Race Course Hussain sped to Vidhan Bhavan where he met the chief minister and MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre collected papers from his party office After a quick meeting with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre Hussain filed for nomination at 2 pm a good hour before the deadline and then heaved a huge sigh of relief Though Hussain had a wedding reception to manage his party members asked him to stay put till 3 pm in case of last minute problems 2 pm With still an hour to go for the deadline Hussain filed his nomination papers At the CMrsquos request Opposition parties didnrsquot field any other candidates making Hussain the sole claimant to the MLC seat Hussain left at 3 pm to prepare for his daughterrsquos reception Lending a hand Of course it wasnrsquot just the chopper that sped things up for him Opposition parties did their bit refraining from fielding any of their own candidates for the vacated post at Chavanrsquos request In the absence of any other candidate for the bypoll Hussain had nothing to worry about and left Vidhan Bhavan a contented man only to immerse himself in preparations for the wedding reception at a hall in Worli in the evening ldquoI did not want to take risks of any sort and had to ensure that each and everything went off as planned and as per schedulerdquo Hussain told MiD DAY He added that he had no inkling of his candidature till the announcement was made in Delhi announcing his nomination Timeline 1100am Muzaffar Hussain solemnises daughterrsquos wedding at Mira Road 1230pm After the wedding lunch Hussain takes a chopper ride to Race Course Mahalaxmi and then drives to Vidhan Bhavan 200pm With just an hour to go for the deadline he files the MLC nomination papers at Vidhan Bhavan