Narendra Modi to launch ‘chai pe charcha’ as poll campaign

GANDHINAGAR: Amid jibes about his background as a ' chai wallah', Gujarat CM and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is brewing a campaign through tea stalls across the country.

Opponents like SP MP Naresh Agarwal and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar have taken steaming swipes at Modi's tea vendor background before he joined the RSS. Now the Gujarat CM wants to make political capital out of it.

Starting February 1, Modi will interact live with people at 1,000 chai shops across 300 parliamentary constituencies using internet and DTH technology. He will address five to eight 'nukkad' (street corner) meetings — 'Chai Pe Charcha with NaMo' - a day.

Modi's campaign managers say he would have addressed thousands of such meetings by the end of the Lok Sabha campaign.

His poll offensive is being managed by 'Citizens for Accountable Governance' ( CAG), an NGO, led by IIT and IIM graduates.

"Modi will discuss a wide range of issues with common people at chai shops across the country,'' a CAG member said. "We have already tied up with chai shops in 300 cities across the country. Local BJP leaders and leading citizens will facilitate the interaction. It will generate much greater impact than the 3D public meetings held during the Gujarat assembly elections last year.''

As he mounts his attack on Congress's dynastic politics and tries to ward off the challenge posed by Aam Aadmi Party chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Modi has increasingly started to flaunt his humble moorings. Recently, he had given VIP passes to around 10,000 roadside tea vendors in Mumbai to attend his rally.