JP Nadda is displeased. The BJP chief hides his frustration behind a benign smile over the party’s failure to reach its one-crore membership target on September 25, the birth anniversary of Jan Sangh leader Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.
Under the condition of remaining anonymous, it was reported that the BJP was only able to enroll 83 lakh members on the designated day, which was 17 lakh less than their goal, despite a concentrated effort from the party’s top leaders to the Mandal level. By chance, September 25 marked the end of the initial stage of the membership drive.
STATES RAISED UP
According to sources from the BJP, a minimum of two states governed by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) are included in the list of states with low performance. Rajasthan is one of them, where the BJP secured 115 seats in December last year, defeating the Congress. The state fell short of the target, enrolling only 26 lakh members instead of the expected 55 lakh by the end of the first phase.
Bihar is another state where the BJP holds power alongside Nitish Kumar’s JD(U). The state BJP, under the new leadership of Dilip Jaiswal since July, fell short of its goal by enrolling only around 32 lakh members, as opposed to the target of 65 lakh set by the previous leader, Samrat Chowdhury.
In states like Telangana, with little BJP organization power, only 10 lakh members were registered.
After the disappointing performance, Nadda reprimanded the state unit, which includes MPs and MLAs, and directed them to aim for a membership exceeding 77 lakh. He has established a goal of 50 lakh memberships after participating in the BJP’s membership registration event at Harita Plaza in the event of a worst-case scenario. It is also thought that he informed the leaders that party positions will be determined by membership numbers. He conducted a private meeting in Patna where he reportedly criticized not only the Bihar BJP president and the deputy chief minister but also party legislators.
During a private meeting in Rajasthan, the BJP’s General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santhosh voiced his dissatisfaction with Rajasthan’s poor performance and warned not only the state’s top leaders but also every BJP MP and MLA about their “apathetic behavior”.
Yogi leads the way in UP, while Himanta shines in Assam.
Although Bihar, Telangana, and Rajasthan are falling behind in the membership campaign, Uttar Pradesh led by Yogi Adityanath and Assam led by Himanta Biswa Sarma have demonstrated the proper way to proceed. Actually, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stronghold, account for the majority of the membership so far – 3 crore.
UP is at the top of the list with 1.5 crore memberships by itself, establishing a standard for other states. Nevertheless, according to BJP sources, Uttar Pradesh fell short of the two crore target set for them in a review meeting, despite being in the lead.
“Uttar Pradesh’s large size is a factor in the party’s national leadership’s confidence in the organization and Yogi-ji’s leadership.” That is the reason why we were given such a challenging goal to achieve. A BJP official expressed confidence in reaching the two-crore mark in the second leg.
MP and Gujarat are in a good position, closely ranked in second and third place with little variation between them. Both states have successfully reached 75 percent of their goal. In order to provide background information. Despite holding the top position, UP was able to reach nearly 65 percent of the goal.
Sarma, BJP’s widely known figure in the Northeast, managed to register 50 lakh members instead of the aimed 65 lakh.
Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh performed better than expected for their size. Out of these states, only Himachal Pradesh, governed by the Congress party, is showing early indications of a rebellious sentiment against the establishment following the party’s choice to avoid attending the Ram Mandir inauguration event in Ayodhya.