BJP to invite 10,000 tea vendors for Modi's Mumbai rally

December 12, 2013

Mumbai, Dec 12: The BJP is pulling out all the stops to make its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's rally scheduled for December 22 a "grand" success, and in a strong message to Congress is inviting as many as 10,000 tea vendors to attend the public meeting.

"Around 10,000 tea vendors from the city will be invited to attend Modiji's rally. We will send invitations to them soon," a party functionary said last evening.

Since he was named the party's prime ministerial nominee, Modi has been referring to his humble background as a tea vendor to strike a chord with the common people and to take on Nehru-Gandhi family.

"By inviting tea vendors, we will send out a message to Congress," the functionary said.

Apart from 5,000 private buses, the state unit has also booked 20-22 trains to ferry its workers from various parts of the state to attend the rally to be held at MMRDA grounds.

As many as 20,000 students from the city will also participate in the rally through BJP's Yuva Shakti campaign, a party leader said.

According to an office-bearer, state BJP leaders want to make the rally a big success by attracting huge crowds similar to Modi's Hunkar rally in Patna.

While Congress has accused Modi of playing to the gallery by referring to his humble background, senior party leader Digvijay Singh recently said even a 'chaiwala' (tea vendor) can become prime minister of the country.

Recently, Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Naresh Agarwal created a flutter, saying "someone rising from a tea shop can never have a national perspective".

However, Modi turned the "chaiwala" slur to his advantage, saying, "A person who polishes boots can also change the fate of a nation".

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

Comments