THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala BJP leaders have not been able to popularise the party in the state, feels BJP leadership. The BJP had initially planned to achieve 30 lakhs new members in the state by August 11 as per Chief Amit Shah’s advice whereas it was able to achieve only 4 lakh new members.

It must be noted that an organisational election of the party is possible only if there is an increase in total membership by 20%. It is learnt that the party’s total membership in the state is around 21 lakhs where it actually needs 25 lakhs.

The campaign to increase the membership began on June 7 with Prime Minister inaugurating it at Varanasi. While the party membership has increased considerably in most Indian states, the Central leadership is not satisfied with its progress in Kerala. It had also demanded the state leadership to renew the membership of the existing members which was also ignored by the state leaders.