Poll process completion to propel BJP's membership drive

The local body and panchayat elections in five crucial states had decelerated the pace of Bharatiya Janata Party's membership drive in the country.

The party's membership drive across the country started on November 1, 2014 and would conclude on March 31. As against the target of over 100 million members that would make BJP the biggest political outfits across the world, about 50 million people had been enrolled as party's primary member till date.

In Chhattisgarh, 1.4 million members had been enrolled in the party fold as against the target set for 5 million members.

With over 50 days now left when the membership drive in the party would close, the figure had not been encouraging for the ruling party at the Centre.

"The membership drive would speed up once the election process in many crucial states was over," national co-incharge for party membership Arun Singh said.

He said the process would gain momentum in next couple of days as the party had identified five important states to concentrate on.

Singh said important states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Bihar had been engaged in the civic body and panchayat elections that had affected the drive. While other states had elections, Bihar was disturbed following BJP workers moving to Jharkhand for the elections.

"We don't have any doubt that the target would be achieved," Singh said, adding that Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh had been in number three position as far as the membership drive was concerned.

Singh said the party would launch a special drive from February 10 to 16 to push up the membership campaign.