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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  BJP to launch ‘Chai pe Charcha’ initiative from 12 February
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BJP to launch ‘Chai pe Charcha’ initiative from 12 February

Narendra Modi, other BJP leaders to hold meetings over tea in 300 cities; cadres to be asked to register themselves, their kin as volunteers over the phone

The BJP’s Chai pe Charcha (teatime chat) will be launched on 12 February by Narendra Modi, whom former Congress party minister Mani Shankar Aiyar controversially called a chaiwalla (tea seller) last month, in a reference to Modi’s early years. Photo: Hindustan TimesPremium
The BJP’s Chai pe Charcha (teatime chat) will be launched on 12 February by Narendra Modi, whom former Congress party minister Mani Shankar Aiyar controversially called a chaiwalla (tea seller) last month, in a reference to Modi’s early years. Photo: Hindustan Times

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is launching two outreach programmes simultaneously across the country in a bid to increase its vote share and identify people who are likely to vote for the party in the coming general election. The main opposition party has set itself a target of 272 seats, which would give it a simple majority.

The first outreach is a mobile phone-based initiative where party cadre and volunteers will ask people to register themselves as BJP supporters by texting their voter IDs to specified phone numbers. BJP leaders have asked the cadre to register themselves and their family members and friends as volunteers.

“Basically, this is to identify our supporter base in advance. The first step is to get people to register as supporters with us. This way, the BJP will be able to know and leverage the volunteers’ social network. It will help us create a database of supporters. This way we will know who will vote for us, and ensure that they vote," said Rajesh Jain, a BJP leader who is a part of the initiative, dubbed Friends of BJP.

Jain said the scheme will help increase the BJP’s reach by identifying those areas where it will need to put in more effort at the constituency level in order to mobilize support. “With this, BJP will be able to create a geographical map of the party’s support base," Jain said.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm and passion about (the party’s prime ministerial candidate) Narendra Modi and we have to tap into it and convert it into votes," he added. “This will give us the ability to convert support into votes."

Volunteer details, such as a person’s voter card and contact numbers, will serve as an individual hotline and will help connect with the voter on a personal level. “We can check if these voter IDs are on the electoral roll and we can help the voters register themselves," said Jain.

“Prior to polling day, we can send SMS reminders to voters with information about their polling booths as well as serial number. We can also send them phone numbers of our BJP volunteers in their respective booths. This way we can create more votes even on the day of polling."

“We have to start with our families, friends, neighbourhood and then, booth. This way we have to reach out to people in the next 60 days. Going door-to-door in your booth is very important. You have to take responsibility of 20-30 houses (each) and make sure they vote for us," said Jain.

The second initiative is called Chai pe Charcha (teatime chats), in which senior BJP leaders, including Modi, will hold meetings over tea with people in 300 cities and 1,000 locations.

This will be launched on 12 February by Modi, whom former Congress party minister Mani Shankar Aiyar controversially called a chaiwalla (tea seller) last month, a reference to Modi’s early years.

“BJP will try to reach out to two crore (20 million) people through Chai pe Charcha," said Sushma Swaraj, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha.

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Published: 04 Feb 2014, 09:44 PM IST
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