File photo of Lalu Prasad.

Lalu Prasad Yadav has challenged Narendra Modi to the title of the original tea boy. For good measure, he has added biscuits."I used to sell tea and biscuits while studying in school," Mr Yadav, who is the chief of the Bihar-based Rashtriya Janata Dal, told reporters in Patna. He detailed his tea story - "I sold tea with my elder brothers from a shop near the police quarters in the veterinary college area."This evening, Mr Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, launched his chai pe charcha campaign, designed to highlight his modest origins as a young boy who sold tea on trains. The BJP has leveraged snide comments made by political rivals like the Congress' Mani Shankar Aiyar to launch the mass contact programme, with Mr Modi engaging with thousands of people across the country from a tea stall in Ahmedabad.Mr Prasad said, with a caustic aside, that he quite doubted Mr Modi had actually sold tea on trains.

The RJD chief, resurgent after forging a new pre-poll alliance with Congress in Bihar has sought permission to hold a rally in Muzaffarpur on March 3, the same day that Mr Modi is scheduled to address a rally there.