Odisha: BJP Launches Membership Drive; Targets to Enroll 1 Crore Members

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday launched its membership drive in the state with senior leaders of the party pressing the designated toll-free numbers on their mobile phones.

The membership drive was launched by party president Manmohan Samal in the presence of chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Vijaypal Singh Tomar and almost all the top leaders of the state unit.

The membership drive was launched in Odisha a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda, Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and other leaders took the membership at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi on September 2.

“The membership drive was launched today to raise the party’s strength in the state. The drive will continue for quite some days. We will open membership drives at different market places, in front of colleges and universities to give an opportunity to like-minded parties to join the BJP,” said Samal.

Addressing the gathering, CM Majhi said the BJP would make an effort to enroll at least one crore members in the next few days so as to establish it as the number one party in the state.

“Our state president Manmohan Samal said that 42 lakh members were enrolled in the last membership drive held six years ago. We must try to raise our strength to one crore this time,” said the CM.

The party issued a toll-free number (8800002024) for people to enroll them as BJP members.

“People above 18 years of age and with the will to become a member of the BJP can call up this number to be a part of the party,” BJP state president Samal said.

“Membership is the soul of our party. Those who will become the members need to work for the party,” Samal stated.

“BJP is the party which fights against the problems. For us, the nation comes first followed by society, party and lastly our workers. As part of the membership drive which is organised once every six years, we reach out to people moving door to door and make them aware of what the party has done for them, as part of the membership drive, Samal added.

In 2014, BJP with over 11 crore members surpassed China’s Communist Party to become the world’s largest political party. The party had added seven crore new members in the subsequent three years.