Lucknow, September 01: After its debacle in the Lok Sabha polls and recently concluded by-elections to four assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has launched an aggressive membership drive to regain its moorings in the state. “BJP has launched an aggressive membership campaign in the state which is being supervised by senior leaders who are visiting different districts and motivating people to join the party,” a senior BJP leader said.
Claiming that more than six lakh people have joined the party in the last two days, BJP state vice-president and spokesman Hriday Narain Dixit today said, “Over 13,000 party activists are criss-crossing the state.” According to party sources, senior leaders including national general secretary Vinay Katiyar, state president Ramapati Ram Tripathi and Rajya Sabha member Kalraj Mishra have campaigned extensively in Saharanpur, Kushi Nagar, Bareilly and Unnao.
The membership drive comes ahead of the party”s organisational elections due in the next three to four months. BJP, which had been a dominating force in UP politics in the past, failed to improve its tally in Lok Sabha elections in May this year and won 10 seats, the same as that in 2004.
In the recent Assembly by-polls, the party not only drew a blank, but its candidates lost security deposit at two seats.
—PTI–