HYDERABAD: BJP vice president and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday declared that the party will soon launch a massive membership drive in the State, with the aim to win the 2023 Assembly elections.
At a press conference in the city, Chouhan expressed his gratitude to the voters for the party’s increased vote share of 20 per cent in Lok Sabha elections, compared to the 5 per cent in Assembly polls. “This is an indication that the people of the State are losing faith in the TRS government because of its ‘one-family politics’,” he said. “Our next target is to form the government in Telangana in 2023,” he said, adding that the victories here and in West Bengal were “very special to the party”.
Chouhan attacked Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, saying “I am a three-time chief minister. But this CM has not visited the Secretariat yet.” He wondered why Rao does not visit the Secretariat, terming it a “mystery”. “The ‘Vaastu’ advisor has been given the status of a minister,” he added. He also criticised Rao for not his “self-promotion”. “He (Rao) does not get to NITI Aayog meetings. He doesn’t care about Telangana’s development and is always promoting himself. I see his advertisements on front pages of dailies in Madhya Pradesh,” he said.
‘Want party member at each booth’
The Bharatiya Janata party’s membership drive will reportedly start on July 6, and continue till August 11. Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who is also the party’s membership pramukh, said the party wishes to have a BJP member in each polling booth, apart from appointing karyakartas at the mandal and block levels