Vibhuti Roy, store manager of Rajya Khadi Gram Udyog in Jamshedpur, at work on Tuesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

The coffers of Jharkhand Rajya Khadi Gram Udyog in Jamshedpur are jingling, thanks to the Assembly elections.

Political leaders and party workers in the city are splurging on shirts this year and not on kurtas, which has been the age-old favourite among all Indian politicians.

The Jharkhand Rajya Khadi Gram Udyog emporium in Bistupur has been raking in moolah like never before for its exclusive cotton and silk white shirts that are made in the steel city.

If store manager Vibhuti Roy is to be believed, the sale of kurtas is negligible compared to shirts and cut pieces.

“Sales have been beyond our expectation this time. The daily figure is touching Rs 1 lakh whereas it used to be around Rs 35,000 normally. We are proud our Johar brand has performed so well and has emerged the favourite among party workers,” said Roy.

In recent times, the store has sold over 3,000 shirts, including half and full sleeves, in silk and cotton.

While white and cream have been the favourite among senior politicians, young workers at times prefer a little more colour.

The khadi store has also made some profit out of salwar kurtas for women. “About 200 pieces have flown off the shelves,” Roy added.

Given the poll season, the waistcoats (better known as bundi) are also selling big time. The khadi store has sold around 400 pieces of bundis that go with shirts and kurtas.

The sale has been so good that the khadi udyog has plans to soon set up a bundi-making unit in Tilaiya, Koderma.

“Since tailors normally are not that skilled in making waistcoats, we will set up a bundi-stitching unit in Tilaiya. Before that, we will train around 200 tailors to cut and stitch the bundi,” said Roy.

The price of silk shirts varies between Rs 1,800 and Rs 2,000 while the cotton ones are available for around Rs 600. The price of bundis starts from Rs 2,500 and goes up to Rs 4,000. But, the store is offering a discount of up to 40 per cent on every item.

Not only the khadi store, brands too attract politicians.

KVC, a multi-brand showroom in Bistupur, also has many buyers for branded waistcoats.

“We sell about 10 to 15 waistcoats everyday. Since fitting is a major concern, many prefer branded ones to the locally made bundis. We have stocked waistcoats by international brands like Van Heusen and Louis Philippe,” said Virendra Soni, owner of KVC.

From Banna Gupta and Upendra Singh or newbies such as Kunal Sarangi and Siddharth Khandelwal, all are campaigning in casual wear.