As mercury soars, NaMo tea stalls turn into juice centre --BJP estimates 3 lakh visitors for Modi

meeting at Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar, February 10 Today a busy tea shop in front of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) head office in Bhubaneswar, started selling fruit juice and fruit salads, skidding off its tea politics campaign as temperatures rose in the East Indian city from 32 degree to 37 degree Celsius in just three days. It soon started garnering curious looks from passersby and onlookers. Many came forward to take a sip of NaMo juice sold at Rs 10 per glass; half the rate sold in the market here. "We started offering fruit juice and salads from today keeping in view of the scorching heat. So far, we have made around Rs 1000," said Abhaya Behera, the shopkeeper of the NaMo stall. BJP had installed three tea stalls in the city to attract the crowd, subsequent to the political fervor in the country. It even started offering free cups of tea, but as the temperature soared, the party had to change its strategy ahead of Narendra Modis visit. "So far, about 30,000 people have registered online to come and listen to Modiji. We are estimating nearly 3 lakh visitors for February 11 meeting, said Sajjan Sharma, a senior leader of BJP in the state.

The party has launched a dedicated website (modiinodisha.in) for registration of volunteers and participants, prior to the prime ministerial candidates address at a public gathering in Bhubaneswar tomorrow. However, unlike its Hyderabad and Kolkata rally, there is no monetary contribution attached with the participation form. The BJP will observe Modi for PM fund raising week from February 11 to 18. The Modi visit will also mark the beginning of One Note, One Vote campaign, said party leader Chandan Mitra at a press conference here. Though second in line to that of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress, the saffron leaders expect the Modi visit to be a grand success, given the enthusiasm of party workers and common man to spectate Modi.

This will be a historical event for Odisha BJP as we have never organized a meeting like this before. Apart from party workers, there is a lot of enthusiasm among common man, said Ashok Sahu, a spokesperson for BJP in the state. According to the party sources it will also sell Modi merchandises (caps, T-shirt, diaries, masks) among volunteers to raise some fund. However, as of now these items are provided for free to party workers for the meeting.