Congress sets membership target at 1,000 per booth

PANAJI: While expressing confidence that its membership drive will meet with success, Congress also sent out a fresh warning to its party workers and senior members asking them to “perform or perish” during the drive and overhaul process.
The party admitted that the digital membership drive has encountered hiccups due to the poor internet connectivity in Goa.
“We must perform. The message to every leader — from the booth to the Pradesh Congress committee level — perform or the entire leadership will perish,” AICC observer for the state, Prakash Rathod, said. He said that after the digital membership drive is complete the entire party organisation will be overhauled.
Rathod, who was addressing a press conference at the Congress house, said that more than 4,700 members have been enrolled in Margao assembly constituency itself. He said that the drive is going on “very well” with all party members working towards enrolling more people.
“Our AICC in charge Dinesh Gundu Rao has made it very clear that perform or perish is the new mantra for Congress functionaries. The membership drive is to assess the capacity and capability of each leader from top to bottom. It is an opportunity for each one of them to show their leadership quality,” the AICC observer for the state said.
Rathod said that the party has also discussed the technical glitches encountered during the drive due to poor network connectivity in Goa.
“We have now decided to go ahead aggressively with alternative arrangements to overcome the network connectivity issue. I urge the state government to take up the issue of poor network connectivity with the Union ministry of telecommunications,” he said.
Leader of opposition Digambar Kamat, co-ordination committee chairman advocate Ramakant Khalap, district observers Mansoor Khan and Sunil Hanumannavar and state Congress vice-president M K Shaikh were also present.
The party is targeting an enrolment of 500-1,000 members per booth so that party workers perform along the lines of the BJP cadre and take on BJP’s election machinery.