JOIN USThe State BJP is planning to brew a winning concoction for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, capitalising on Mani Shankar Aiyar’s ‘tea vendor’ jibe at BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
The party seeks to turn the war of words over the Congress leader’s comment into a ‘tea vendors versus nation sellers’ campaign. It will be called ‘chai maruvavaru vs desha maruvavaru’ and an agitation based on this theme will be launched across the State soon, by the BJP.
Workers and leaders of the saffron party will seek to turn the tables on the grand old party, in a ‘Gandhigiri’ of sorts, by selling tea at the Congress meetings, State and district level, said C T Ravi, MLA.
BJP leaders met here on Monday to chalk out the modalities of the agitation. Suresh Kumar, BJP spokesperson and MLA, said the party cadre were already selling tea in Mangalore, Nanjangud (Mysore district) and some other places to show solidarity with Modi, who used to sell tea in his childhood.
The party has knit the campaign around the journey of Modi from being an ordinary ‘chaiwala’ to becoming the BJP’s poll mascot and prime ministerial candidate.
“If a rich man like Jawaharlal Nehru could become the prime minister of this country, a poor man like Lal Bahadur Shastri too held the post. The party wants to showcase Modi’s metamorphosis in similar light,” Kumar said.
Bangalore City BJP president Subbanna said that a convention of tea vendors would be organised to express support for the Gujarat chief minister. Kumar said funds would be raised for the party by selling coupons to households in the State, in the denominations of Rs 10 to 1,000. The target is to collect at least Rs five crore in a month’s time. The party would also do a check on whether the names of residents find a place in the electoral list. Booklets on the achievements of the NDA and Modi as well as failures of the UPA would be distributed, he added. Kumar said the Kerala unit of the BJP had done extremely well when it came to raising donations from the public through coupons.