Storm in a Teacup: Jay Panda holds ‘Heijau’ Chai Event in Bhubaneswar

ONI Bureau: Proving a point about his pan-Odisha presence, MP Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda held a “Chai Pe Charcha” event in Bhubaneswar this evening. The theme of the event was #Heijau which means ‘Ho Jaye’ in Hindi.

Around 300-400 people thronged the venue at Mausima Square in Old Town area, responding to Jay Panda’s call on Twitter and Facebook. It also sends a strong message to his critics that a “Twitter Tiger” can change things on the ground if he enjoys the mass appeal.

Not only his fans and followers, but also many neutral people who respect and admire him were present at the venue to have interaction/selfie with him on a cup of tea. Veteran Congress leader Sura Routray who accidentally reached the venue, was in full praise for Jay Panda.

“He is an intelligent, honest and compassionate leader. Many people cutting across party line support him. I request him to contest the next Lok Sabha polls from Bhubaneswar and see how much love and affection he gets from people here. I don’t see any reason why Congress Party won’t support such a mass leader even though he does not join us. Odisha definitely needs leaders like him”, he said.

Among others, Hindol King Shailendra Narayan Singhdeo and eminent lawyer Prashant Kishore Ray were present at the Heijau Chai hangout event. Youth and women attended the event in large numbers despite a short notice. People present there hailed the concept of ‘Heijau’ and said such interactive events should be frequently organised by all leaders.

Baijayant Panda thanked everyone for their participation and said he is planning hold more such events in the coming days

Although Baijayant Panda and people close to him term ‘Heijau’ just an event to meet and interact with the people as promised by him before his father’s sudden demise, political pundits see it as a new development in Odisha politics, saying it would definitely trigger tremors in the BJD camp. They also believe that Jay Panda has given a fitting reply to his bitter critics and skeptics who dubbed him as a mere ‘Social Media Star’ and claimed he has no conect with the ground reality.

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