Nothing is going right for the Congress party, it seems. Chai, the fuel on which all netas, babus and journalists run, is being denied on credit to all Congress party workers in Mumbai by their trusted neighbourhood chai-wallah.
Reason? Inder Joshi who runs a tea stall behind the headquarters of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) at Azad Maidan, the preferred chai-wallah among supporters and functionaries says that the party owes him Rs. 2 lakh. For tea. And probably for some Gujarati snacks, since Joshi who hails from Gujarat is famous for those, reports Times Of India.
"My family has been running the shop here for decades. They [the Congress] have not paid us since a long time and we have now stopped providing them tea on udhari," he said.
But he seems optimistic about getting from his long-term customers the money they owe him. "I know they will pay us eventually," he said, "they always do."
Apparently, there is a tea-making machine inside the MRCC office but everyone prefers Joshi jee's chai. "He makes good tea and he should have been paid. He was not paid for nearly four months. We will settle the bill soon," said Sanjay Nirupam, the president of the MRCC.
Nirupam blamed the dues on an irresponsible party worker. He said that the 'carelessness' of one of the party workers resulted in the dues. "We had to pay the tea vendor Rs 4 lakh and we have already settled half the bill," he said.
According to a report in the Mumbai Mirror, another party leader who did not want to be named said that there was a cash crunch in the party. "Our party makes fun of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who once worked as a tea seller. But here we don't have money to clear the chai-wallah's bill," said the leader.
Here's hoping that the Congress pays up for all the chai it has consumed and until then, Inder Joshi's motto remains "Cash first, please."
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