Kolkata: West Bengal BJP President and party MP Dilip Ghosh said on Sunday that the saffron outfit was eyeing one crore membership from West Bengal this year.
"Last year, we had enlisted 42 lakh members. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the party had got 86 lakh votes. In the recently held general elections, we got 2.30 crore votes and half of them should be enlisted as party members.
"We will renew the membership of the existing members and target over one crore membership from West Bengal this year," he told party workers at a meeting in Howrah district.
Urging the party workers to expedite the process of enlisting members, which will commence from July 6, Ghosh told them to reach out to those who did not even vote for the BJP.
"Other states may look at 20-30 per cent increase in membership, but West Bengal is different. The state is at the centre of the country's focus. We should double our membership," he said, adding that the party is gaining popularity everyday as workers from other parties are joining the BJP.
Ghosh also accused the state's ruling Trinamool Congress of inciting violence in West Bengal and destroying the democratic rights of the citizens.
"Fed up with Trinamool's extortion, people have started to come to a party which had three members in the legislative Assembly before four new BJP MLAs were elected in the by-elections. Many Trinamool Congress MLAs too have crossed over to the BJP," Ghosh said.
Meanwhile, the booth-level workers of the Delhi BJP will try to enlist 14 lakh new members in the party in over a month long nationwide membership drive scheduled to begin from July 6.
The party has designated five workers at each polling booth as 'Panch Parmeshwars' (booth-level workers) who will serve as a link between the party and the voters living in the area covered by the booth.
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said the membership drive in the national capital will be different from other states where aim is to add 20 per cent new members to the existing numbers.
