Lalu competes with NaMo chai, tops it up with a biscuit
PATNA/MUZAFFARPUR: Competition seems to be brewing for BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s Chai Pe Charcha campaign in Bihar, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal starting Lalu Chai stalls in the state.
The first such stall, named after party chief Lalu Prasad, was opened in Muzaffarpur town near Patna on Thursday, when tea and long biscuit puffs were distributed free to anyone interested in them. From Friday, however, each cup of tea was being sold for `3 and a biscuit puff for `2.
“We want to call Modi’s bluff that he sold tea at railway stations. What we know is that his father ran a canteen in which he helped out. It’s Lalu who sold tea as a student to eke out a living in his early days,” said RJD leader Iqbal Shami. He said the campaign would run in Muzaffarpur till Modi’s rally in the town on March 3. The RJD has planned its own rally in Muzaffarpur the same day but is yet to get permission from the district authorities. Explaining the choice of an important tri-junction in Muzaffarpur for setting up the first tea stall, RJD leader Harendra Kumar said, “This is the best place to connect with the masses. People from more than seven districts of north Bihar travel through here.”
For BJP state president Mangal Pandey, all this is a storm in a teacup. “Lalu Chai shops are a copy of our campaign and this is being done just for cheap publicity. Nobody can match Modi’s popularity and his innovative ideas.”