Modi's mass contact drive to kick off on his 64th birthday

BJP plans to contact 700,000 people in Gujarat during the nine-day campaign

Though Gujarat chief minister and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi does not prefer celebrating his birthday, his party colleagues in the state will be kick starting a mass contact programme on his 64th birthday on Tuesday (September 17), with a target to connect with 700,000 people across the state.

BJP's nine-day mass contact drive would commence from Modi's birthday and concluded on birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay (September 25), profound leader of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh. This drive has been planned with an eye on the 2014 general elections where Modi will be playing a key role for the BJP as he is also heading the party's poll campaign committee.

According to BJP, under the programme seven groups have been formed which will contact 100,000 people each during these nine days across the state. This groups will have members of the youth wing who will move to different places and inform people about BJP's initiatives and programmes. "We target to reach as many as 700,000 people during this drive," BJP media convenor Harshad Patel said.

As many as 100 people will be identified in each district who will go to other districts and tell them about party programmes. Blood donation camps, village level meeting and other prgorammes will be held during this mass-contact drive. Senior leaders of the respective districts are likely to supervise the event in their regions.

Modi, who has been named as the prime ministerial candidate by the BJP for the 2014 Lok Sabha election has always preferred not to celebrate his birthday. During an interaction with school children on Teachers Day (September 5) last week, one of the students had asked how he celebrated his birthday and whether he accepted any greetings or not.  In reply Modi, born on September 17, 1950, said that on his birthday he preferred to give time to himself and on that day he does not take any calls or meet people.

Modi pointed that not celebrating his birthday was something he had been doing since childhood. He, however, told the youngsters that he would welcome their greetings sent through email or any social media.