About 60 lakh enrolled as TRS members in ongoing drive: Senior

The ruling TRS in Telangana has enrolled about 60 lakh members during its membership drive that began in the last week of June, a senior party leader said on Thursday.

The enrolment of members had been beyond expectations as the partys membership earlier was slightly less than 50 lakhs, TRS MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, who is involved in membership drive and organisational activities of the party, said.

About 60 lakhs done... data entry of 52 lakhs completed. August 25 is the last date for submission of membership books," he said.

The party has received about Rs 21 crore through membership fees and another Rs two to Rs three crores was expected, he said.

The party offers insurance facility to its members.

TRS sources said party working president K T Rama Rao, who held a meeting with partys key leaders on Thursday, asked the party activists to counter the aggressive claims of BJP about rise in its strength in the state.

Asked about BJPs aggressiveness over its growth, Reddy dubbed as a "fluke" the party winning three Lok Sabha seats in the April polls.

TRS was the "dominant force" in the state and this was reflected in its "massive victory" in the rural local body polls which were held after the Lok Sabha elections, he said.

TRS had returned to power in the assembly polls held in December last with a thumping majority, winning 88 of the total of 119 seats.

Though the party expected to bag at least 13-14 of the total of 17 seats in Lok Sabha polls, it could win only nine.

The loss of sitting MP and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter K Kavitha particularly came as a setback to the party.

TRS, however, put up a spectacular show in the subsequent rural local body polls, winning all Zilla Parishads in the state.