PUNE
While addressing the Pune Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) cadre over a ‘tiffin meeting’, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule took the opportunity to review the party’s preparations with the Lok Sabha elections less than a year away. Bawankule and senior party members including former mayor Muralidhar Mohol, Pune BJP unit chief Jagdish Mulik, Shivajinagar MLA Siddharth Shirole, and others shared tiffin while discussing ways to ensure continued engagement across generations.
The meetings were held last week at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute for Khadakwasla and Shivajinagar constituencies.
Such events called ‘tiffin meetings’ are being held in each assembly across the state, where senior leaders bring home-made food packed in tiffins and share it, a move aimed at better bonding of the party’s cadre, especially the old guard, who have stuck with the party when it was yet to gain a firm political foothold.
Speaking about the concept, Bawankule noted that such gatherings are important for party leaders to interact with common workers.
“Such gatherings are the BJP’s true tradition, which was previously followed by the RSS and Jan Sangh. We aim to spread this idea throughout the state, and it will surely aid in engaging with party members. The idea behind the Tiffin Party is more than just politics,” Bawankule continued.
The BJP leadership is also gently delivering a message to its cadre that it values the party’s old guard and their contributions through such unique meetings, a move timed to maintain coordination between old and young cadres ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
According to BJP spokesperson Sanjay Mayekar, such gatherings offer party workers a sense of belonging.
“It is our culture to share meals. Families exchange ideas, problems, and happiness over meals, and these gatherings allow party workers to interact with office bearers and offer their thoughts and issues to seniors.”
