The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has set a target of enrolling at least 100 million new members as part of its membership drive that is set to begin from September 1 across all states except in the poll-bound states and Union territory.
The membership drive will be held in phases from September 1 to November 10 and will allow individuals to sign up through a missed call, the party’s website and other digital platforms, said lawmaker and party spokesperson Sambit Patra. (PTI)
The decision was taken at a meeting of the party’s national and state office bearers on Saturday. The membership drive also sets the stage for the election of a new party chief. The meeting was attended by party president JP Nadda, Union home minister Amit Shah, presidents and office bearers of all states, except the election-bound Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, and senior party leaders. The membership process will be overseen by national general secretary Vinod Tawde.
The membership drive will be held in phases from September 1 to November 10 and will allow individuals to sign up through a missed call, the party’s website and other digital platforms, said lawmaker and party spokesperson Sambit Patra. It will be held in the poll-bound states and Union territory after the elections and the overall numbers are expected to rise further.
Patra said about 110 million people signed up as members of the party in 2014 and about 70 million in 2019 when the membership drive was opened for a limited period. “Between 2014 to 2019 about 18 crore members signed up as members. The membership drive was due, but because of the pandemic we could not go ahead,” he said.
The BJP, which claims to be the largest political entity globally with 180 million members, was established on April 6, 1980. It is currently in power at the Centre for the third consecutive term with support from its allies that together make up the National Democratic Alliance.
“Amit Shah told the attendees that the BJP, unlike the other parties, works for the development of the country. He said since the day it was established, the party workers have not pursued rajnaitik sukh (political comforts) but followed the path of sangharsh (struggle)… we will keep struggling and work relentlessly for the county,” Patra said.
Addressing the media, Patra said the party despite having grown in numbers continues to adhere to the democratic process of having organisational polls and membership drives, which in turn sets it apart from 1,500 other parties. “…We are a living party. We work for our renewal,” he said.
The party has also deputed leaders as in-charges to oversee the drive in various states and Union territories. Tawde has the charge of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli; national general secretary Dushyant Gautam will oversee operations in West Bengal, Sikkim, Tripura, and Odisha; national vice-president Rekha Verma will handle the campaign in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Ladakh, and Chandigarh. State president of Andhra Pradesh D Purandeshwari has the charge of Kerala, Puducherry, and Tamil Nadu; national secretary Arvind Menon of Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Lakshadweep, and Telangana; former lawmaker Rajdeep Roy for Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland; national secretary, Vijaya Rahatkar will oversee Chhattisgarh and Karnataka; national secretary Rituraj Sinha will oversee the campaign in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat and Ghaziabad MP Atul Garg will be in charge of Uttarakhand and Bihar, people aware of the details said.
The process of the membership drive will lead to organisational appointments in states, which in turn will set the stage for the election of a new party chief.
Nadda’s tenure came to an ended in January this year but he was given an extension to continue in office till the election of a new chief. The party’s parliamentary board approved the extension in January.
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