Mumbai's most eligible bachelor Pratap Gaekwad to wed in Nepal

The country's crème de la crème have been invited for the wedding of Mumbai's most eligible bachelor in Kathmandu.

Prince Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad, the 35-year-old scion of the Baroda royal family and one of the most eligible bachelors in town, is ready to take the plunge.

Pratap, the son of Sangramsinh Gaekwad, the youngest brother of Baroda's last ruler Fatehsinhrao Gaekwad, will be tying the knot with Praggyashree Thapa, the daughter of Gen Pyar Jung Thapa, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Nepal Army.

The wedding is scheduled to take place in Kathmandu on May 14. Gen Thapa, an ultra loyalist of the embattled King Gyanendra, is currently busy defusing the volatile situation in the country, but till now there is no indication of the wedding being postponed.

Intimations have been sent out to the who's who in Delhi and Mumbai, besides most of the royal families in India — an eclectic list that includes Railway Minister Laloo Prasad, top brass of the Indian army and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Formal invites will follow.

Known for his colourful personality, Pratap is the CEO of Baroda Rayon and a popular figure on the society circuit. A whole batch of his friends, including Jeh and Ness Wadia, Aditya Kilachand, Queenie and Raja Dhody, Arvind Godrej and Vikram Shroff will be part of the contingent from Mumbai. While Pratap himself remained unavailable for comment, his close friends have confirmed that they are "definitely" going for the wedding.

India's current envoy to Nepal, Dr Karan Singh, also has family ties with Nepal royalty and is another of the invitees to the wedding.

Incidentally, Pratap's sister, Priyadarshini Raje, is married to Jyotiraditya. Gwalior's Scindia royal family, which has close ties with the Ranas of Nepal, is tightlipped about the matter.

In fact it's a season of weddings for the Scindia clan — Jyotiraditya's cousin Devyani Rana is slated to tie the knot with HRD Minister Arjun Singh's son Ashwarya Singh.

While Jyotiraditya has confirmed his presence at Pratap's wedding, Yashodhara Raje Scindia said she was yet to decide whether she would be travelling to Nepal. But she refused to divulge any further details. "This is an internal family matter. I don't see why we should be talking about it to the media," she said.

A Mumbai-based travel agency has been hired to oversee the travel arrangements of the invitees — who may be flown in on a chartered plane.

They will be put up as state guests at one of the best hotels in Kathmandu during the five-day wedding celebrations, which starts on May 11. The nuptials will be followed up by a series of receptions in Baroda, Delhi and Mumbai.