BJP’s membership drive gets tepid response in Punjab
The ongoing membership drive of the Bharatiya Janata Party has received a tepid response in Punjab with the party able to enrol only 1.3 lakh members to date.
The ongoing membership drive of the Bharatiya Janata Party has received a tepid response in Punjab with the party able to enrol only 1.3 lakh members to date.
The nationwide membership drive started on September 2 and will end on September 30. As per figures available on the official website of the saffron party, over 2 crore persons have been enrolled during the drive. The party’s Punjab unit had set a target of enrolling 50 lakh members. In the previous membership drive held in 2021, the party had enrolled over 24 lakh as primary members in the state.
Post-September 30, the second phase will start from October 1 in which the party will try and enrol active members. As per party plans, a person who would enrol 100 members from his login would be given active membership.
Party insiders, who didn’t wish to be named, have blamed the low response on the lack of efforts from the state unit leaders due to differences between the party’s homegrown leaders and those who switched to the party just ahead of the 2022 assembly polls and recent Lok Sabha elections.
“Jakhar saab is keeping a low profile these days and so are many other state leaders. There is total confusion in the party on many issues including membership drive. Whereas the old guards, who are homegrown leaders in the party, are of the opinion that since the party has given so much importance to those inducted from other parties, why should they work? On the other hand, the outsiders are yet to sync with the BJP’s organisational culture,” a senior leader of the party from Doaba said, pleading anonymity.
Party’s membership drive incharge and veteran leader Manoranjan Kalia said the drive will pick up pace in the next few days.
“Let us have no hesitation in admitting that Punjab is a typical state for BJP. We will make sincere efforts to achieve our target as the central leadership of the party is monitoring the drive daily,” Kalia said.
Notably, the party, even though it failed to win a single seat in the recent LS poll, saw its vote share jump to 19.56%. This was the first time that the BJP contested solo in Punjab since 1996.
