Shivraj to lead membership drive that will end with picking party chief
The BJP is to continue with Amit Shah as party president until Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand by the year-end. The party on Thursday appointed former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as incharge of the mammoth membership drive for the organisational elections that will culminate in electing Shah’s successor.
The decision to initiate membership drive was taken at a meeting headed by the BJP president and attended by party’s national office-bearers, general secretaries and presidents of the State units at the party headquarters.
According to sources, Shah is likely to continue as party president till the organisational elections get over. Shah’s extended tenure would end in January 2020.
Shah may later pave the way for the new party chief to uphold the party’s stated policy of one-man-one-post. Sources did not confirm whether any discussion took place on appointing a working president.
The meeting also discussed changes in the party and vacancies created on account of a number of party leaders joining the Modi Government, including State unit presidents of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Party’s coordination with the Modi-2 dispensation and effective propagation and implementation of flagship Government policies was also deliberated by the meeting, the first after Shah becoming the Union Home Minister.
Addressing a Press conference after the meeting, BJP’s general secretary Bhupender Yadav said the party president told the organisational office bearers that “the party has still not peaked in terms of its electoral performance despite winning the highest ever 303 seats in 2019”.
The party’s reach is need to be further expanded to new regions and sections of the society, Yadav said quoting Shah.
Yadav said Shah credited the hard work of the crores of party supporters for the BJP getting more than 50 per cent vote share in 220 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
Shah said in the Lok Sabha poll, party succeeded in spreading its wings in West Bengal, Telangana, Odisha and North-East States.
Yadav also informed that during the meeting it was decided that the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, who is also a vice-president of the BJP, will lead the party’s membership drive and he will be assisted by four other leaders.
Yadav said BJP has 11 crore members at present and is aiming to increase it by 20 per cent. He said party workers and leaders would devote themselves to the expansion of party membership in next three years. Shah, he said pointed out that last time 10 lakh workers were given training to take up party works and expand its ideological content.