Maharashtra unit of BJP is going all out to increase its support base with Amit Shah telling party's ministers to work harder on party's membership drive.

Mumbai: With an eye on the upcoming elections of the important local bodies including the Mumbai civic body, the Maharashtra unit of BJP is going all out to increase its support base with party president Amit Shah telling all the party's ministers and senior leaders to work harder on the party's membership drive. And like the assembly polls, the party intends to cede no ground to the Shiv Sena.

Presently, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the richest civic body in Asia with a budget of over Rs 30,000 crore, has been controlled by a Sena-BJP alliance for the last two decades. However, the equations have changed following the recently held assembly election where the BJP won 122 seats while Sena only 63 seats.

"It will be premature to say whether we will contest Mumbai civic election with the Shiv Sena. But, we will certainly have the equal seat sharing given the fact that we have won one more assembly seat than the Sena in Mumbai," a BJP leader from Mumbai told Firstpost on condition of anonymity.

"We feel that the seat sharing formula will be decided on the basis of votes we got in the assembly constituencies and wards,” he said.

In Mumbai, the BJP has won 15 assembly seats as against the Sena’s 14 in the 2014 assembly election.

“We have got the majority number of votes in certain corporator wards where we have never fielded the candidates in the past. So, this fact will have to be considered for the civic elections if we are forming an alliance with the Sena in Mumbai,” said a BJP leader.

Niranjan Shetty, BJP spokesperson for Mumbai, said that the civic elections across the state are important for the party and not just Mumbai.

Last week, party chief Shah reviewed the membership drive of the party in Maharashtra and reportedly wasn't too happy that the enrollment drive had managed to get just 20 lakh new members in the state so far.

“Shah has asked the ministers not to be involved only in government work but also give enough time for the party work. The ministers have been asked to supervise the enrollment of the members in their respective districts,” said a BJP minister on condition of anonymity.

Shah also pointed out to party leaders during the meeting that the BJP got 1.44 crore votes in the 2014 assembly polls, which is double the 72 lakh vote the party got in the 2009 polls. He gave each MLA a target of 1 lakh members to be enrolled in the party, said a BJP MLA, who was present in the meeting.

He said that BJP intends to use the drive to expand its mass base and reach out to different sections of people cutting across caste, creed and religion.

The MLA said that Shah has also asked party leaders to increase its base in all 87,000 polling booths across the state and the program will be held between 12 January and 27 January.

The booth system plays a key role in the elections and our target is to get 1.25 crore members by March end, he said.

BJP leaders say that Shah’s instructions of strengthening the party’s base across the state through the membership drives are clearly aimed at preparing the ground for the upcoming civic elections in major cities of state.

While the civic election in Aurangabad will take place later in this year, the civic elections in major cities like Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Nagpur and other municipal corporations will be held in next two years.

“The way Shah is monitoring the membership drive and asking the ministers to give enough time to the party work clearly shows that he is focusing on the upcoming civic election in Maharashtra. Obviously, the Mumbai civic election will be on the top of the agenda,” said a BJP leader.