'Millennium Man'

Vadra appears this month on the cover of a style magazine called Le City Deluxe as the 'Millennium Man'.

Brother-in-law Rahul Gandhi goes for the dishevelled look, appearing unshaven and in crumpled pyjama-kurta. But Robert Vadra takes pride in his natty dress sense. He likes the cut and fit of an Armani and also favours brands such as Zara Man and Diesel. Vadra appears this month on the cover of a style magazine called Le City Deluxe as the 'Millennium Man'. He posed for a series of photos in some of his outfits and has been groomed and styled by professionals. Vadra says he combines luxury with high-street brands. "It's not what you wear but the way you carry it," he asserts. Clearly purchasing real estate is not his only interest. A fitness freak, he gets up at the crack of dawn to ride his bicycle. He is working on a blog on overall fitness. He gave up dirt biking after an accident and has taken instead to golf. He goes diving around the world with his family, and he is passionate about wildlife and photography. Besides his other business interests, he has also entered the hospitality sector now and has been asked to design a signature suite and do up an entire hotel. His philosophy is that "You might be with the first political family of the country, you'd still need to step out and knock on doors to create you own business and life."

First preference

Sonia Gandhi's first choice as leader of the Congress after Rajiv Gandhi's death in 1991 was Shankar Dayal Sharma, then vice-president of India. Journalist Kalyani Shankar gives the background of how P V Narasimha Rao became prime minister in her just released book, Pandora's Daughters. According to Shankar, Natwar Singh suggested to Sonia that she consult P N Haksar, once Indira Gandhi's principal secretary, before making the choice. Haksar proposed that freedom fighter Aruna Asaf Ali should try and convince Sharma to take the prime minister's post. Natwar went to meet Sharma together with Ali, but the vice-president immediately excused himself saying that considering his age and ill-health, he would not be able to do the job. It was only after this that the name of Rao, who was all set to go back to Hyderabad as he was not a member of either House of Parliament, came up for discussion.

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