Pressure mounts on BJP Indore unit to meet membership targets

With the municipal elections and Holi festivities having come to an end, the Indore unit of Bharatiya Janata Party has begun holding informal meetings to re-start the mega membership drive, which will end on March 31.

With the municipal elections and Holi festivities having come to an end, the Indore unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has begun holding informal meetings to re-start the mega membership drive, which will end on March 31.

Party president Amit Shah had launched the drive in New Delhi last November.

According to the BJP’s website, the party has recruited more than six crore members in the country so far.

City BJP president Kailash Sharma said the task of achieving the target of 10 lakh members by March end was the party's first priority.

"The membership drive had slowed down because of the elections and festivals," he said.

In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has enrolled 69.52 lakh members so far, including over 3.5 lakh members in Indore city alone.

According to the state BJP office, 1.35 lakh people in MP had enrolled on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the party workers have been complaining of fatigue.

During informal conversations with senior party leaders, including MLAs, they said they had been working hard for the past three months to connect with voters for the municipal elections and the membership drive and therefore cannot be pressed into action immediately.

"We were told to go beyond our limits to achieve the target," a party worker said, on condition of anonymity.

With just three weeks left for the membership campaign to end, the pressure is mounting on party leaders and workers to give their best shot. However, party leaders have expressed confidence in achieving the target of 10 lakh members in city.

"We know it will be very difficult to achieve it. We will be happy even if we achieve 70% of the target," a party leader said.