Lucknow: Indian cricketer Rinku Singh got engaged to Samajwadi Party MP Priya Saroj in a private ceremony held in Lucknow on Sunday. The couple is set to tie the knot on 18 November later this year.

The engagement, attended by close friends and family, also saw the presence of several high-profile personalities, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, MP Dimple Yadav, veteran actor and Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan, and Congress leader as well as BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla.

Speaking to PTI, Shukla said, "May both of them enjoy a beautiful life. This is a wonderful match. Each excels in their own field, and together, they will make a strong and successful pair."

Priya Saroj’s father, Tufani Saroj — a three-time MP and current MLA from Kerakat — said the event was an “intimate affair.” He revealed that Rinku and Priya met through a mutual friend’s father, who is also a cricketer. The couple have known each other for over a year and decided to proceed with the marriage after receiving the blessings of both families.

Priya Saroj, 26, is among the youngest members of Parliament and represents the Machhlishahr constituency in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh. She entered politics in 2024 and defeated BJP’s BP Saroj by a margin of over 35,000 votes.

Rinku Singh, 27, is a key member of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL and has represented India in 2 ODIs and 33 T20Is.

Notably, the couple had also recently attended the engagement ceremony of cricketer Kuldeep Yadav and his fiancée Vanshika in Lucknow.

Photos and videos from the engagement have been widely circulated on social media.

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New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Culture allegedly spent Rs 76.13 lakh on print advertisements marking the 100-year celebrations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), according to a Right to Information (RTI) reply.

The information was sought by RTI activist Ajay Basudev Bose, who filed an application seeking details on expenditure incurred by the ministry for advertisements commemorating the RSS centenary.

Bose shared a picture of the reply from the ministry on his official ‘X’ handle.

“It is informed that an amount of Rs 76,13,129 has been spent on advertisement given in various print media by the Ministry of Culture on the occasion of the completion of 100 years of RSS,” the government’s reply stated.

Bose questioned the expenditure in the post X, “when Everyone knows RSS is Not Registered & Does not Pay any Tax is it justified to spend Tax Payers Money on such Private event??”

Reacting to the development, Karnataka’s IT-BT and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge also criticised the spending.

In a post on X, he asked why public money was being used for what he described as a “private ideological project.”

"Modi Sarkar spent Rs 76,13,129 of public money on newspaper advertisements to celebrate 100 years of the RSS. Why is Government spending taxpayers money on an unregistered, non-tax-paying organisation to celebrate their centenary?," he added. 

According to reports, the RSS describes itself as a volunteer-based organisation and has stated that it functions as a body of individuals rather than a registered entity.

Founded by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in 1925, the organisation is marking its centenary year beginning from Vijaydashami in 2025, with the milestone observed on October 2.