Bhubaneswar: With the objective of enrolling nearly 14 lakh members into the Bharatiya Janata Party, Union Steel, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched the party’s membership drive at a function here Saturday.
Pradhan launched the programme in the presence of party’s senior leaders including Aparajita Sarangi, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Prakash Mishra, Damodor Rout and KV Singhdeo.
“In order to win the hearts of the people of Odisha, there is a virtual need of a strong organization. Therefore, BJP has to strengthen its base in the state”, Pradhan said.
He said BJP has acquired nearly one crore votes in the recently concluded elections with 36,000 active members.
“However, we have not been able to form government in the state. If we increase our members, our vote share can also be increased to over 1.5 crore. We have to work in this direction,” he said.
Pradhan appealed to his party workers to visit every household for enrolling more members into the party-fold. He urged the members to work in all the 37,000 booths to garner 51 per cent vote share in the state.
“To achieve Mission 120+ in the state Assembly and to win all 21 Lok Sabha seats, we have to set a target of 50 lakh membership,” the Union Minister said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suggested planting five saplings in every booth across the state, he said. Pradhan has also planted trees in Bhubaneswar and also visited one home to collect membership as a symbolic gesture.
“If there are no no trees, there would be no life. Planted a sapling on the occasion of BJP membership drive. Requested karyakartas to come forward and plant five saplings each for every new member that joins @BJP4Odisha. Together we can protect our environment,” he tweeted.
Notably, the BJP has emerged as the second largest party in the state by winning 23 seats in state Assembly in recently concluded elections. It also bagged eight Lok Sabha seats out of 21 in the state.
The vote share of the saffron party has increased significantly in the recently concluded Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.
Pradhan justifies fuel cess
Justifying hike in the taxes on fuel in the Union Budget 2019-20, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said there is requirement of funds for overall development of the country. “As there is decline in the price of fuel in international market, Indian economy should take advantage of the situation,” the Petroleum and Natural Gas minister told reporters. Meanwhile, the price of both petrol and diesel has increased in Bhubaneswar Saturday, a day after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman raised taxes on fuel. While per litre petrol price in the state capital was `69.41 Friday, it increased by `2.53 to `71.94 Saturday.Similarly, the price of diesel has gone up by `2.65 per litre to `71.51. The price of diesel in Bhubaneswar Friday was `68.86 per litre.