Tejashwi takes tea party route to woo Bihar

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav is emulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s way of connecting with people. Yadav will be organising a tea party on Monday (6 November), on the lines of PM Modi’s “chai pe charcha” during his election campaign in 2014, with friends of social media. Yadav has posted an open invitation on his Facebook account, which says: “Let’s meet & talk over cup of tea.” The invite further says “Tea with Tejashwi—Let’s interact.”

The event, the first-of-its-kind by Tejashwi Yadav after the Mahagathbandhan government of JDU-RJD-Congress fell in July, will be held at his official residence—5, Deshratan Marg, Patna.

Sources said that the out of power Tejashwi wants to keep his support base intact and holding such a meeting is part of this strategy. Tejwashwi Yadav is quite active on social media. He has over 73,000 followers on Facebook and over 5.35 lakh followers on Twitter.

RJD spokesperson Chitaranjan Gagan said this is a get together where Tejashwi Yadav would try to take feedback from his friends on Facebook and Twitter, which would help him understand the issues at the ground level.

 “We are also planning to organise a Black Day on 8 November against the NDA government’s decision of demonetisation. Our leader will discuss about the preparations for demonstrations and dharnas across the state, during the tea party,” he said.

There is considerable excitement among the RJD workers about the event. An RJD supporter said: “This is for the first time that he is trying to connect and communicate with the people, especially the youth. He should explore new initiatives and plan for a new future.”

Interestingly, he had done a similar exercise before the Mahagathbandhan government  came to power in 2015. However, it could not be sustained when he was Deputy Chief Minister. On this, an RJD leader said: “As an Opposition, we have more challenges. This is a phase of struggle. There is a much bigger need to connect with the masses. That’s why such a get-together is being organised,” he said.  

The event follows a war of words between the JDU and RJD after the former released a photograph of Tejashwi Yadav along with an unidentified woman and a bottle of liquor in the backdrop. Responding to the allegation, Tejashwi Yadav has said that the photograph was taken in 2010 when he used to play cricket. It was taken in one of the IPL’s post-match parties and he did not know the girls personally.