A Bihari menu awaits BJP leaders

PATNA - Come June 12 and leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will relish traditional Bihari dishes — litti chokha, dahi chura and sattu sarbat along with jardalu mango, shahi litchis and sweets like maner laddu and silao khaza!

Bihar is set to host the two-day national executive of the BJP after 16 years and the party’s state wing is ensuring they do it the proper Bihari way.

“Traditional Bihari delicacies would be part of the menu for lunch, dinner and breakfast for visiting BJP leaders,” Aswan Kumar Choubey, senior BJP leader and in-charge of the national executive meeting, told IANS.

Bihar is ruled by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The executive meeting would be attended by BJP president Nitin Gadkari, party veteran L.K. Advani, chief ministers of BJP-ruled states like Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Raman Singh (Chhattishgarh) and Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), senior leaders Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi.

“We will offer a pure desi menu to beat the heat and there will be rare varieties of mangoes like jardalu and digha maldah,” Choubey said.

The state BJP has also decided to present gifts to visiting delegates.

“The gift packs will consist of the world famous Bhagalpur silk fabric and a small bust of Lord Buddha besides paintings in the world famous Madhubani style,” Choubey, who hails from Bhagalpur, said.

State BJP president C.P. Thakur said party leaders and workers were upbeat about the visit of top leaders.

“Party leaders, including Gadkari and Advani, would start arriving from June 11 to take part in the June 12-13 meetings followed by the ‘Bihar Swabhiman’ rally June 13,” Thakur said.