Maintaining that the vote percentage of the BJP in Odisha has increased in the last general elections in comparison to the 2009 polls, senior party leader and Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said the party aims at a “BJP-Yukt and Congress-Mukt Odisha”.
“We want a Congress-Mukt and BJP-Yukt Government particularly here in Odisha. The recent Kandhamal lok Sabha by-election in which the vote percentage of the BJP has increased, shows that the State is on the track for Congress-Mukt Odisha. Many prominent leaders of both Congress and ruling BJD are eager to join the BJP,” said Javadekar while launching the State-wide BJP membership drive here at the State party headquarters.
Javadekar said, “The hike in the vote percentage in Odisha is a good sign and the trend will take the party to the front. While the party had got nearly 20 lakh votes in the 2009 general elections, it was blessed with around 46 lakh votes in Odisha in the 2014 elections.”
He further stated that at the national level too, the party had received 18 crore votes in the 2014 general elections against the eight crore in the 2009 polls. Odisha in-charge of the BJP and national coordinator of the party’s membership drive Arun Singh said the party would enrol around 40 lakh members by March 2015 of which at least ten per cent would be active members.
Earlier in the day Javadekar, Singh, candidates who had fought the April elections, State party office-bearers, State executive members and national executive members had discussed the strategies and programmes to achieve the set target. “The party cadres will be visiting zones, blocks and villages to enrol members for the party. Today’s programme can be called a ceremonial launch of the membership drive,” said party spokesperson Suresh Pujari.
The party’s national membership drive had been launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 1 in New Delhi. The party has decided to move beyond its initial plan of recruiting members through technology-enabled platforms like online registrations or ‘missed calls.’