Nadda shifts party’s focus to membership drive in Telangana

Hyderabad: Asking the party leaders and cadres to focus on the membership drive in the state, keeping aside the party programmes including agitations against the state govt, BJP national president JP Nadda set a target of 50 lakh memberships for Telangana. Currently, the BJP state cadre has completed about 10 lakh memberships. Reviewing the membership drive with the party leaders, including elected BJP MPs, MLAs, contested MPs and MLAs, ex-MLAs, and senior leaders of the party on Saturday, Nadda said that party membership is key to winning the elections and coming to power in the next assembly elections. He also enquired about the party membership in each district, especially in Greater Hyderabad, where the elections are due next year. BJP secured 48 corporators in GHMC in the 2020 elections. "Our party got 78 lakh votes in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Of this, at least 70%, which comes to about 50 lakh memberships, should be our target, especially among youth. The target should be achieved as we have time till October 15," Nadda told the gathering. He said that party MPs and MLAs should focus more on the membership drive to ensure a win again, and those who contested and lost should also focus on the drive to win in the next elections as memberships are the key. The party president also asked the leaders to work in coordination to achieve the targets.The BJP chief said MPs should visit every mandal in their Lok Sabha constituency and MLAs every Shakti Kendra, covering five to six polling booths. He reportedly expressed unhappiness over the slow membership, except in some districts. Karimnagar has about 52,000 memberships and Siddipet has 46,000 memberships. In Greater Hyderabad, which is divided into four districts, there are about 80,000 memberships. Nadda interacted with some senior leaders on how to go about the membership drive and also focus areas. The BJP president said he would come to Hyderabad again after 15 days and review the progress.