New Delhi: The BJP’s membership is set to increase by seven crores, taking the total number of members to 18 crores. The party’s working president, Mr J.P. Nadda, said here on Thursday that the process of gathering data on the seven crore new members was still on, and once completed, the party’s total membership strength would be 18 crores.
Mr Nadda said overwhelming support for the BJP was visible during its membership drive as the target was to recruit 2.2 crore members. The party got a big response to its membership drive in Trinamul Congress-ruled West Bengal and in Jammu and Kashmir, he added. The BJP, during its membership drive in 2015, had inducted 11 crore members.
The in-charge of the BJP’s membership drive and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, said the party had thought of increasing its membership by 20 per cent, but it had increased by almost 50 per cent. “More than five crores have been added to the existing 11 crore members. This is evidence that the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo has inculcated trust in the people,” he added.
“I have covered 28 states in person. I stayed in Kashmir for two days. We conducted social events, met retired Army officers, intellectuals and labourers,” he added.
The latest membership drive had started on July 6, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah launching it from Varanasi and Telangana on party ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s birth anniversary. The membership drive was crucial ahead of the party’s organisation polls in September. The election of national council members is expected to take place in December, followed by the election of the party president.
