PM Narendra Modi, Ivanka Trump's gala dinner at Falaknuma Palace: All you need to know

Ivanka Trump and other delegates of GES 2017 were treated to a variety of delicacies including the famous Hyderabadi biryani.

Hyderabad: US President Donald Trump's daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump and other delegates of Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) attended a gala dinner hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the iconic Taj Falaknuma Palace here on Tuesday.

Modi, Telangana Governor ESL Narasimhan, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and some top politicians and industrialists dined with Ivanka on the 101-seater dining table at the palace hotel. The guests were treated to a variety of delicacies including the famous Hyderabadi biryani.

According to reports, Ivanka and the US officials accompanying her were given a 'taste of India' at the extravagant dinner and were treated to famous Hyderabadi specialities like dahi ke kebab, gosht shikampuri kebab, kubani ke malai kofta, murg pista ka salan and sitaphal kulfi.

The five-course meal centred around the cuisine of Hyderabad and was reportedly designed by the Taj Falaknuma’s Executive Chef Sajesh Nair.

For other GES 2017 delegates, the dinner was arranged in the hotel lounges.

Ivanka was given a royal treatment and was ferried from the main gate to the palace atop the hill in a horse-drawn carriage of the Nizam era. She and other guests were greeted with a rose petal shower on entering the palace.

The White House advisor also went around the palace, which was once the residence of the Nizam, the ruler of erstwhile princely State of Hyderabad.

They all reached the palace after the inauguration of GES at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC).

Elaborate security arrangements were put in place as the palace is located in the old city of Hyderabad and is surrounded by densely populated neighbourhoods.

The Nizam's suite, which used to be the private suite of the ruler of Hyderabad State and costs a whopping Rs 5 lakh to Rs 8 lakh a night, was booked for Ivanka in case she stays at the palace.

However, she returned to Trident Hotel, where she is staying. PM Modi reached the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport to fly back to New Delhi.

Ivanka was the first high-profile foreign dignitary visiting the palace after it was converted into a star hotel a decade ago.

It was Nawab Vaqar-ul-Umra, the Nizam's Prime Minister, who built the palace in 1893. Impressed by its magnificence, sixth Nizam Mir Mahboob Ali Khan bought it for himself and stayed there till 1911.

Built over 32 acres, the scorpion-shaped and all-marble palace stands tall in its splendour and majesty atop a hill, at 2,000 ft above sea level and overlooks the old city of Hyderabad.

(With Agency inputs)