Target Telangana : Shah foresees BJP win in 2023

Hyderabad: Union Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah set a task of enrolling 18 lakh more members and achieving 50 per cent vote share to the state unit of the party to bring it into power in Telangana in 2023.

Launching the party membership drive in Hyderabad marking the 100th birth anniversary of the BJP icon and the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh Dr Shyama Prasad Moo­kerjee here on Saturday, Shah said the BJP coming to power in Telangana is imminent.

"Earlier, the party had formed government in Karnataka in South India. Coming to power in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala is imminent.

It is just a matter of whether it is Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday," he added.

The BJP chief said that he has come to Telangana for the first time after the resounding victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the second time.

Terming the party securing a 20 per cent vote share in the Lok Sabha elections is remarkable, he said the BJP is destined to come to power in the state.

Expressing confidence in the state party leadership and hardworking cadre, the BJP chief thanked the people for giving 20 per cent vote share.

However, he asked the rank and file of the party to add 18 lakh more members to the existing 18 lakh and to ensure that the party will get 50 per cent vote share in the ensuing Assembly elections to come to power.

Stating that Modi has launched the membership drive in Varanasi on Saturday, Shah said, "It is a tribute to the sacrifice being made by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee for completing the integration of Jammu and Kashmir in the country."

Similarly, the Majlis has committed atrocities on the people in the erstwhile Nizam state. However, common people in Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka had stood firmly making ultimate sacrifices for the merger of the Hyderabad State in the Indian Union. He said the first Home Minister of the country Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had played a crucial role in the accession of Hyderabad in the Indian Union.

It was the ideology of the party which wanted to make the country great. It was the ideology and cadre-based party. It may move slowly but when it expands it is well-rooted and, unlike other parties which come and go.

The party is in power in 16 states. Its expansion is not based on any person, family, community and region. Further, the party has been following internal democracy all along, he added.

Dismissing the allegations that the BJP is luring leaders from other parties, Shah said, "There are good people in other parties.

We will invite all of them and unite the 'Good Forces' (Sajjan Sakhti) to fight the ills in society and country."

He asked the state BJP leadership to invite good people into the party to work under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.