State, LS polls defeat fails to dampen BJP workers' spirit

The Bharatiya Janata Party state unit has embarked upon a fresh spell of membership drive in the state. Led by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and senior office-bearers of the state unit, the BJP is aggressively using digital options to enrol new members.

Bhubaneswar: Having witnessed a significant rise in vote share in the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Odisha, the Bharatiya Janata Party state unit has embarked upon a fresh spell of membership drive in the state, aiming to increase its membership strength to 50 lakh by the end of this month.

This move, the party hopes, would help it match the strength of the BJD which polled over one crore votes in the elections.

In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJD got 1.01 crore votes as against 91.08 lakh votes polled by the BJP. The difference of over 10 lakh votes made a big difference in the number of seats won by the two parties.

While the BJD won 12 seats, 8 fewer than its 2014 tally, the BJP got eight seats, seven more than its 2014 polls.

The BJP, in fact, had launched a 40-lakh membership drive before the 2019 polls. However, it could enrol 34.50 lakh. After the polls, another 1.5 lakh members were enrolled. Led by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and senior office-bearers of the state unit, the party is aggressively using digital options to enrol new members.

“Our membership drive is going on and we will soon reach the 50 lakh target. We hope to surpass the total vote share of the BJD,” said BJP vice-president Samir Mohanty.

Mr Mohanty added that though the party did well in the Lok Sabha polls, its performance in the Assembly polls was much less than expected.

BJP president Amit Shah had set a target of winning 120 Assembly seats and was eyeing at least 12 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 polls. However, it managed to win 8 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats and 23 of the 147 Assembly seats in Odisha.

Apart from membership drive, the BJP has prepared a blueprint which includes strengthening the organisation at the grassroots.

“For years, we have been fighting for development, eradication of poverty and employment. Now, we are giving much importance to industrialisation and agro-processing initiatives to generate more jobs for youths and launch new programmes to stop migration of rural workforce of the province to other states in search of livelihood options,” informed BJP state in-charge and former Union minister Arun Singh.

Mr Singh blamed the ruling BJD for ruining the state economy in its last 20 years of rule.

“Development has completely stopped and unemployed rate has increased to an unacceptable limit. Atrocities on women have increased and child trafficking rate in the state is one of the highest in the country.

“Law and order has deteriorated considerably and police stations have become centres of party activities. Still worse, officers of district collectors and superintendents of police are being used to favour party workers and subjugate rival party workers and leaders,” said Mr Singh.

Grapevine has it that the saffron party, like the pre-election period, is trying to rope in a few more stalwarts of the BJD to strengthen its footprints in coastal Odisha.

“Some top BJD leaders who had joined the BJP ahead of the general elections, made significant contributions to our presence in coastal Odisha. At present, we do not have plans to induct any more leaders from any other party. However, we will consider to rope in those leaders who have a good public image and organisational skills,” a senior BJP leader privy to the development said.

State BJP had raised 36,000 booths ahead of the polls and these units will now be assigned to step up their activities for better show in urban polls, sources in the party said.

The party has also decided to categorise Assembly segments as “A, B, C and D” based on the performance in the seats in the Lok Sabha polls.

“The seats where we have taken a lead would fall under category ‘A’ and the seats where we are in the close second position would fall under category ‘B’. The rest of the seats where we are second with a distant margin would fall under the ‘C’ category and the seats where we are third would fall under ‘D’ category,” a source in the BJP said.

The party will increase its activity in the state and reach out to the masses. But focus will be on the seats categorised as “A, B and C”, another senior BJP leader said.