'Teaboy' Narendra Modi milks chai for party

NEW DELHI: Looking to milk the "chai wala" symbolism as a popular connect, Narendra Modi will meet people at a tea shop in Gandhinagar on February 1 as will hundreds of BJP leaders at 1,000 other tea stalls.

These hangouts will be held at locations across the country and BJP leaders, including MPs, MLAs and office bearers will meet people while TV screens will broadcast live a message by Modi.

The interactions with potential voters will be used as a feedback-gathering mechanism to map issues that top the concerns of ordinary folk. The tea shops will range from humble shacks to small restaurants.

Modi latched on to the chai wala image to underline his modest beginnings as a tea seller, using Gandhi family loyalist Mani Shankar Aiyar's "tea boy" jibe to paint Congress and Rahul Gandhi as "elitist".

Modi sought to turn tables on Aiyar and Congress at a BJP convention last week when he said reluctance to face off with a "chai wala" was an important reason for Rahul deciding against being named PM candidate.

The tea parties will help increase interaction of BJP central and state leaders as parliamentary board members like Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, down to MLAs will meet people.

BJP sources said the tea shop experiment will be repeated every week and be part of a process to gather inputs for the party manifesto so that the document reflects views of a large cross section. Adda sessions will see Modi meet people in different parts of the country.

The Gujarat CM apparently believes that such sessions will portray him as a rooted leader who is not, as rivals claim, committed to a growth model driven by assisting corporate or business interests.

BJP intends to use the interactions to distribute campaign material, gather individual donations, enrol volunteers and build a data base of likely Modi supporters.