The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) kickstarted its annual membership drive in Karnataka on September 4 by setting an ambitious target of enrolling 1.50 crore members. The party had enrolled 1.04 crore members during the drive in 2023.
The party organisation has set a target of enrolling a minimum of 300 members from each polling booth across Karnataka during the drive that will be conducted for the next 45 days.
The party that has made elaborate preparations for the membership drive, including holding workshops on the enrollment process for its grassroots level office-bearers.
BJP State president B. Y. Vijayendra launched the membership drive at the party state office in Bengaluru in the presence of former deputy CMs M. Govind Karjol and Dr. C. N. Ashwath Narayan, and former ministers V. Sunil Kumar and C. T. Ravi. He expressed confidence that it would be possible to exceed the previous year’s enrollment target. He said all the leaders of the BJP, including the MPs and legislators, would actively participate in the membership enrollment drive.
He used the occasion to launch an attack on the ruling Congress by describing it as a party that hankers for power rather than focusing on serving people. On the contrary, the BJP is a party that believes in service, which is visible in the way the party members responded to the people in distress during COVID, he maintained.
Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has resolved to turn the country into a fully developed nation by 2047, he appealed to people to strengthen the Prime Minister’s hands by enrolling as members of the party in large numbers.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashok appealed to party leaders and workers to take up membership drive on a war-footing. He said the BJP is a party of workers while the Congress is a party of leaders that belong to one particular family.
Leader of Opposition in the Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy predicted that Karnataka may face Assembly polls any time, and asked party workers to be prepared for such an eventuality.
BJP’s Karnataka co-in-charge Sudhakar Reddy urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to quit while accusing him of indulging in irregularities.
Membership drive convenor Nandish Reddy said the party had already enrolled about 5 lakh members throughout the State.
