BJP pulls up Manish Tewari, says 'nation ready to buy tickets to listen to Modi'

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday took a jibe at Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari after he criticized the saffron outfit for charging money as admission charges to attend Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Hyderabad city, saying people are not even ready to attend the meetings of the ruling party at the Centre despite being offered cash.

"I can understand the pain and anguish of Manish Tewari because what they are experiencing is that people are even ready to buy ticket to listen to BJP leaders and Narendra Modi but people are not ready to come to their (Congress) meetings despite them paying cash to the people. So, I can understand the heartburn and that is what has happened to Manish Tewari," said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.

Minister Manish Tewari earlier in the day took potshots at the BJP for deciding to benchmark its own value.

"You have baba's (spiritual leaders) charging anywhere between a 100 rupees to a lakh of rupees for their pravachans (speech). You go to see a movie these days good, bad or ugly, you pay 100 rupees for a ticket. Good theatres charge 1000 rupees also and then you have a political party deciding to benchmark its own value," Tewari said.

"Is this the market discovery that they have been able to come up with? But I guess that still does not detract from the fundamental question; and the fundamental question is, is this the method or is this the manner in which democracy should be monetized?" he asked .

The BJP had announced that they would donate the money raised from Modi's Hyderabad rally to help in the relief and rehabilitation of Uttarakhand flood victims.

The Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad, which can accommodate 30,000 people, has been booked for the speech, but the BJP expects a lakh to attend.

Earlier in June, Narendra Modi was chosen to head the BJPs campaign in 2014 general election, which led to exposed rifts within BJP.