Strengthening the party in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by setting an ambitious target for the membership drive will be on the top of the agenda of the BJP’s national president Amit Shah, who was in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
“Shah will address a meeting of the party’s office-bearers from all the districts of Telangana in Hyderabad on Thursday. He will also lay emphasis on expanding the party’s base and prepare it to capture power both in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in 2019,” a senior party leader said.
He will set the guidelines for the online membership drive to be launched from January 12. “Our plan is to increase the party membership in Telangana to 20 lakhs from the present 4.5 lakhs,” said the State BJP president G Kishan Reddy. On Thursday evening, he will leave for Vijayawada and meet the AP office bearers of the BJP. There also his focus will be on the membership drive and further strengthening the party.
BJP is a partner in the TDP led alliance Government in Andhra Pradesh but of late its leaders have been dropping clear hints that the party was not happy to play second fiddle in the state. Earlier, the party general secretary Ram Madhav had indicated that the party would like to play an independent role and contest all the future elections on its own.