PATNA: The weakening ties between the Congress party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar has forced three top leaders of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), including chief of the Scheduled Caste department K Raju, to call for an intensified membership drive into the ‘grand old party’.
Raju, who is considered a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, told a select group of Congress functionaries in Bihar that the key to the success of the campaign relied heavily on their efforts to reinvigorate the organisation and secure a majority in the state assembly.
“Everyone needs to be trained on the mechanism of digital membership drive, which is the most authentic way of having the database of active workers up to booth levels. This is slightly technical and hence all those spearheading the drive have to be technologically savvy,” Raju said, adding that the recent political developments clearly show that the Congress will contest all future elections alone.
AICC general secretary and Kerala in-charge Tariq Anwar urged party workers to knock on every door in Bihar and motivate people to join the party “to help defeat communal forces”.
“The Congress party also needs to make people aware about the design of opportunistic parties to fragment the society on different lines,” Anwar said.
Assam Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora, who has been made the state Returning Officer to supervise the membership drive with deputies Naresh Kumar and Sandip Sharma, praised the party’s membership drive, and hoped that the Congress will cross the target of 32 lakh active members by the end of February.
Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) chief Madan Mohan Jha, Congress legislature party (CLP) leader Ajit Sharma, in-charge of media department Rajesh Rathore, former MLA Harkhu Jha, AICC member Kishore Kumar Jha, former youth Congress chief Kumar Ashish, youth Congress chief Gunjan Patel, NSUI chief Chunnu Singh were also present at the day-long event along with several current and former MLAs.
