Echoing the allegations consistently made by his party leaders after the Srirangam by-poll, BJP national president Amit Shah on Thursday said Tamil Nadu was number one in electoral malpractices.
However, he made no reference to the functioning of the AIADMK government, of which State BJP leaders were highly critical in the recent past.
In a closed-door meeting with party leaders in Coimbatore, Mr. Shah wanted the BJP to enrol 60 lakh members this month so that malpractices in elections in Tamil Nadu could be countered.
“He said if we get 60 lakh members, we can be assured of significant presence in every polling booth. This will help fight electoral malpractices,” said a senior leader, who attended the meeting. In the same breath, he expressed his disappointment at the membership drive so far in Tamil Nadu and indicated that it lagged behind many other State units.
Reiterating the importance of the membership drive, he said that from a position of strength, the Congress fell to a position of having just 44 Members of Parliament because it did not focus on membership drive.
The BJP did not want to commit the mistake and was keen on enrolment drive, he added.
In the 2014 Parliamentary election, the BJP alliance secured 19 per cent of the votes. It could have secured more had the party infrastructure been stronger, he said to drive home the point that at the ground level the party needed to be strong.
Party workers though were taken aback by the target set. “We have 25 days left in the drive. How could we add 35 lakh members in 25 days, when we have managed only 24 lakh members in three months? He said he will extend the deadline, but even then it is hard,” a leader said.
“If we get 60 lakh members, we will have significant presence in every polling booth’’
