Rahul Gandhi, Bilawal Bhutto Zardarito infuse new blood

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Meeting over lunch when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh plays host to visiting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday will be the scions of two political dynasties.

The young Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was anointed chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party at the age of 19, will be at the lunch as will be Nehru-Gandhi family scion Rahul Gandhi, a general secretary in the Congress party and a member of Parliament.

Apart from being members of two political families, the two men have also suffered similar tragedies in their lives. Both have lost a parent to assassins. Bilawal lost his mother, the charismatic Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007, when he was merely 19. Rahul, at 21, was just two years older than Bilawal when his father, the then former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was killed by the LTTE in 1991.

The coincidences don’t end there. Both have also lost a grandparent each, ag-ain in brutal circumstan-ces. Bilawal’s grandfather, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was hanged to death during the regime of President Zia-ul-Haq in 1979 after he was deposed by the latter in an Army coup. Rahul’s grandmother, Indira Gandhi, was Prime Minister when she was assassinated in 1984.

Others invited to the PM’s lunch at 1 pm on Sunday at his 7, Race Course Road re-sidence are senior Cabinet members like defence minister A.K. Antony, finance minister Pranab Mukher-jee, external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and home minister P. Chidambaram.

Among the Opposition leaders who have received an invitation are senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Sushma Swaraj.

Also on the guest list are parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who is the minister designated to accompany President Zardari during his day-long visit to India. A brother of President Zardari who is part of the delegation is also expected to be present at the lunch.