SRINAGAR: Buoyed over the massive vote share in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying hard to woo as much as possible members into the party fold through its ongoing membership drive in Kashmir while as the party chief for the State, Ravinder Raina said that this time Chief Minister will be from the BJP.
So far, according to the party insiders, BJP has enrolled 112000 new members in Kashmir as part of its ongoing membership drive in Kashmir and it eyes on making three lakh new members in Kashmir win at one to six Assembly seats from Kashmir in a bid to stake claim over government formation.
A senior party said that the BJP is in a strong position in Leh and Jammu region while as its primary focus is on Kashmir in the months ahead with a sole aim of trying to win at least one to six seats.
Talking to reporters, one the occasion of cleanliness drive at the Children’s hospital, G B Panth, BJP’s State head Ravinder Raina while taking a dig at the National Conference working president Omar Abdullah, said that Omar is right that if people won’t vote, BJP will come to power.
“The fact is that people would vote in the upcoming Assembly polls en-masse and BJP will emerge as a single largest party. We will have a Chief Minister of our own and J&K under his leadership will witness a new era of peace and prosperity,” he said.
Raina said that Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti are trying to mislead people of Kashmir by creating fear psychosis about arrival of additional companies. He said that additional forces were a requirement for a peaceful election in the state and more forces were coming for that purpose only. “Elections will take place soon and BJP will sweep the polls across the state,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJP has intensified its membership drive that will culminate on August 6. “The party has set the target of 3 lakh additional members in Kashmir but the way, members are joining the party, I think, we will cross the target,” a party leader said.
He said sole aim is to strengthen the party in Kashmir in a bid to ensure that it wins at least five to six seats in the upcoming elections. “The party will cross 30 seats in Jammu and win all four seats from Leh and Kargil and if we win six from Kashmir, we will simply emerge as the single largest party in the State and will stake claim on the government formation,” he said.
In the meantime, in order to woo more people towards it in Kashmir, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has decided to go for a major public contact program ahead of the assembly polls with party’s national General Secretary Ram Madhav scheduled to visit the valley next week.
Sources said that Madhav’s visit assumes significance given the fact that party at present is busy in wooing people through its ongoing membership drive across the state with an eye to bring all the 17 lakh voters who voted in its favour in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, into the party fold as basic members.
“Ram Madhav is arriving next week to take stock of the party’s functioning across Kashmir and to meet party leaders from Kashmir to raise their morale. He will also review the party’s ongoing membership drive and get feed from district and constituency presidents involved in the drive,” said a senior party functionary.
He claimed that since July 7, the BJP has managed to bring at least 1, 00,000 new members into the party fold as new members in Kashmir only while as in Jammu region, membership has crossed three lakh mark and is set to break record in the coming days. In Kashmir, majority of party leaders are focusing on strengthening the party base in a bid to win at least five seats from the region in the upcoming Assembly polls.