Shah says BJP yet to reach peak, aims new regions

With a second term for the Modi government secured, BJP chief Amit Shah — who is likely to continue in his old role for a few more months — on Thursday asked the party to aim a higher target even after it clocked its best-ever performance in the Lok Sabha polls.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will head the BJP’s fortnight-long renewed membership drive during which the saffron party, which already has 11 crore members, plans to increase the count by a further 20%.

“The BJP has not peaked in terms of its electoral performance,” Shah said at the two-day brainstorming that sets off the month-long exercise of organisational election of the party, which will culminate in the election of a new president.

Union Minister J P Nadda and BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav are believed to be the frontrunners for the party president’s post when Shah, who took oath as home minister, will vacate the position.

Shah reminded the party leaders that the BJP is yet to reach its peak.

The BJP increased its tally from 282 in 2014 to 303 seats in 2019, the maximum any party could get in the last 35 years after the Congress’ 404 clincher in 1984 in the sympathy wave following Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

As the BJP looks to better its 2019 record, Shah has his eyes on West Bengal in the east, where the party registered a nine-fold jump, winning 18 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 from just two in 2014, and Kerala in the south, where it could not open its account despite a saffron surge after the Sabrimala row.

The other states that the BJP would target are Odisha, where it won 8 Lok Sabha seats, and Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh where it could not score.

Chairing the meeting of national office bearers and organisational leaders from the states, Shah asked the leaders to carry out the expansion in new regions, saying the party will reach its pinnacle when it will have its governments in states like Kerala and West Bengal, among others.

Assembly elections are due in West Bengal and Kerala in 2021. In Kerala, where the BJP tied up with smaller parties, the NDA vote share went up to 15.2% from 10.8% in 2014. The BJP on its own got around 13% votes.

In West Bengal, the party has made huge gains, increasing its vote share from 16.8% in 2014 to 40.25% in 2019.

Shah described the 2019 poll outcome as the “mandate against casteism, family rule and communalism” and in particular flagged the big defeat of the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing a press conference on the first day of the meeting, BJP general secretaries Bhupendra Yadav and Arun Singh said the BJP will start ‘Sangathan Parva’ to strengthen inner party democracy and will achieve its membership target within three years.

Party sources said that till the organisational elections are completed, which may take a few months, Shah will continue as the BJP national president. This effectively means that the party may fight Assembly elections in three states — Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra — later this year under Shah.

In Delhi, Assembly polls are due early next year.