Who’s who goes for sun ‘n’ sand

NEW DELHI: Go Goa. This seems to have been the buzzword for political and corporate honchos this New Year.

As if the beaches, bikinis, and carefree atmosphere were not enough, temperatures in Goa rose further with the presence of two powerful lobbies.

Both the Ambani brothers were present with their entourage, and were even seen at a common party hosted by Raj and Deepti Salgaonkar. But the moment the party was up, the two went back to their politically correct groups.

While elder brother Mukesh was seen hobnobbing with Vijay Mallya, Rajiv Shukla, Lakshmi Mittal, Sunil Mittal, and Bollywood biggies like Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar, Anil was in a group headed by Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh. The other top names in this  party were Amitabh Bachchan and Lalit Suri.

The high point of the beach party was the competition between Mallya’s yatch and Mittal’s water machine (costing a cool Rs400 crore).

Of course the welcoming of 2006 was also special. Mallya threw open the gates of Kingfisher Villa. When DNA spoke to him, the king of good times was in a great mood. “The party is gonna rock. The year ahead has to be better than last year.”

India’s grand old family, the Gandhis, headed to the Maldives. Sonia Gandhi, her mother Maino Predibon, Priyanka and Robert Vadera and their kids, and Rahul Gandhi and his girlfriend are all celebrating together. This is the first vacation Sonia has taken since leading her party to victory in 2004.

The Prime Minister and the President are in Delhi.