The Bengal BJP is brewing a “cha chokro (discussion over tea)”, the move seen part of a strategy to counter chief Mamata Banerjee’s Didi Ke Bolo mega outreach drive.

The initiative, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said, will be spearheaded by him. “The objective is to engage with people, hear them out and help them.”

Comparisons between the BJP’s plan and Trinamul’s outreach initiative have already started. Ghosh, however, swatted away the talk. “I have been conducting this mass-contact exercise through my life since my days in the RSS as a pracharak. I had regularly held Janata Darbars since I became an MLA from Kharagpur in 2016. My party now wants to give it a proper shape through an initiative named cha chokro.”

The Midnapore MP said the initiative would be rolled out from September and BJP leaders at all levels would participate.

“As state president for the last three-four years, I have been doing the rounds of all organisational districts, from Cooch Behar to Kakdwip, meeting party functionaries and supporters extensively. Now I would spend time over a cup of tea with the masses across Bengal to learn about their problems,” Ghosh said.

The cha-chokro plan is a follow-up to the party’s one-and-a-half month membership drive.

“The central leadership had given us a target of 50 lakh initially and later increased it to 60 lakh. We have achieved it. But we would continue with our membership drive in Bengal. We have set a target of one crore by December-end,” BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said.