BJP membership drive likely to fall short of 25 lakh mark in Telangana

The first phase of the membership drive came to an end on Wednesday and with just two weeks left to end the general membership, drive it may be difficult for the saffron party to reach its target

Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which kickstarted its membership drive in Telangana on September 8 by setting an ambitious target of enrolling 25 lakh members, is far behind from its goal with the party managing to enroll about 7 lakh members so far.

The first phase of the membership drive came to an end on Wednesday and with just two weeks left to end the general membership, drive it may be difficult for the saffron party to reach its target.

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The active membership drive will be continued from October 1 to 15. The party organisation has set a target of enrolling a minimum of 200 members from each polling booth across the State during the drive. Those who enrol 100 members are likely to be given “active membership”, party leaders said.

Currently, according to the party’s claims, Telangana has about 14 lakh members as per the last membership drive conducted three years ago. Nizamabad district tops in Telangana for highest enrolment of BJP membership with 3.50 lakh members.

The party has claimed to have managed to attract as many as 1.85 lakh new members through its website, NaMo App and others. This is said to be the highest in South India with Karnataka coming second at 1.82 lakh.

Former MLC and State BJP membership committee convener N Ramchandra Rao said the party had conducted a number of workshops for the party leaders and workers to train them about the membership drive.

He expressed confidence that the party would achieve the target given to it by the leadership. “Due to the rain, our membership drive got delayed. We are doing well. Will achieve our target,” he said.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that BJP national president and union Minister JP Nadda will be visiting the State at the end of the month to motivate party activists to enroll more people.