BJP denies Narendra Modi holding fund-raising dinner

Zee Media Bureau/Deepak Nagpal

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday denied that it has organised a fund-raising dinner for Narendra Modi in the national capital. “This information is baseless. We have never conceived any such programme,” senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said. “Our programme is `tea with Modi` and not `dinner with Modi with a price tag`,” Javadekar added. Earlier, media reports had claimed that Modi will attend a fund-raising dinner on March 26 at the Ashoka Hotel here. The price tag for attending the alleged dinner was between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.4 crore – the price would vary depending on the sitting arrangement, the reports had claimed. For example, a seat on the back-row would have cost Rs 1 lakh; one would have had to shell out Rs 2.5 lakh for a front-row seat; and those willing to pay Rs 25 lakh would have got the opportunity to sit with Modi on a round-table. For corporate sponsors, the price tag was between Rs 60 lakh and Rs 2.4 crore. It may be noted that Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal has been organising such dinners, but with a much lower price tag. Such fund-raising dinners are a part of the American political culture.