GURUGRAM: Two months after he helped stitch up an alliance with JJP that ensured the Khattar regime’s second innings,

chief

has formed another alliance, this one very different, with Congress leader and former Gurugram MLA Sukhbir

.

Barala’s daughter Tamanna and Kataria’s son Nishit got engaged on Monday at a ceremony in Tohana, from where

lost in the assembly election held last October. Nishit is a practising criminal lawyer in Gurugram district court while Tamanna is pursuing a master’s course in Panjab University.

Among those who attended the engagement ceremony on Monday were state Congress president

and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. No prominent BJP leader was in attendance as both leaders “wished to keep politics away from this alliance”.

Kataria, who contested the assembly polls from Gurugram this time and lost, said friends had brought the two families together. “I had never even met Subhash Barala till about a month ago. This is an arranged marriage and it is likely to be held in February. Talks began a couple of months ago but could not be finalized since we both were busy with elections and could not devote much time,” Kataria, a former minister in the state, told TOI.