Rahul and Shweta after their engagement. Picture by Rajesh Kumar

New Delhi, July 10: The fizz over the champagne and coke having settled a little, Rahul Mahajan today slipped an engagement ring onto the finger of his long-time friend Shweta Singh.

“He had wanted this to happen? for the past two years,” Rahul, entangled in a drugs controversy, said this afternoon in a reference to his late father Pramod Mahajan.

Rahul had promised he would make his father proud of him some day in a news conference after he got out of Tihar jail less than a month ago.

Looking happy as he awaited a special court’s verdict on whether he could leave Delhi, Rahul said: “I would like to put the past behind me? This is a new phase of my life.”

Rahul and Shweta, both 31, have known each other for the last 12 years. They had met in the US where they had gone to train as commercial pilots.

“It is great to have a partner,” gushed Rahul, as he talked of how his father had long wanted him to hitch up with Shweta. The wedding date would be fixed after “consulting a pundit”, he said.

This evening’s ceremony ? it started at 7 pm ? was a quiet affair, attended only by family and close friends. There was no music and no drinks. Most of Rahul’s friends from the Mumbai party circuit were missing.

“It’s basically a family affair,” said Rahul, who had got out of his trademark jeans and white shirt and slipped into a formal sherwani.

His mother Rekha had made all the arrangements for the ceremony, he said. She had been in a tearing hurry as there was no shubh muhurat after today for the next four-five months, he smiled.

Not too many top guns from the BJP attended the ceremony at 7 Safdarjung Road ? where Rahul almost had a brush with death at a champagne and cocaine party in early June ? as they were busy celebrating party boss Rajnath Singh’s birthday.

A.B. Vajpayee and L.K. Advani skipped the engagement but sent their good wishes. While Vajpayee’s foster daughter Namita carried his greetings, Pratibha Advani did the same for her father.

Expectedly, former Maharashtra chief minister Gopinath Munde was there. Munde is married to Pramod Mahajan’s sister.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar, too, attended. “I have long-standing personal ties with the family. There is no political statement to be made here.”

In the afternoon, Rahul was allowed by special judge S.N. Gupta to go to Mumbai after July 31, provided his brain mapping was over. The tests are due on July 26 or 27.

“I miss Mumbai badly,” said Rahul, who will have to do without his mobile for a while longer as the court dismissed his plea for its return.

“The accused may file a fresh request after the chargesheet is filed,” the court said.