Bhubaneswar: Hailing the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as the single largest political party in Odisha, its president Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday said that the regional party continues to be in the hearts of the people.
While launching the membership drive of the BJD, he called himself a proud member of the regional party. He became the first to renew his BJD membership.
He launched the membership drive of the BJD both online and manually on the birth anniversary of Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das.
“BJD is the single largest party in Odisha. People voted in large numbers for BJD in the last general elections and the party is in the hearts of the people of the state,” said Naveen.
Asserting that the BJD continued to serve the people of Odisha on the ideals of “sacrifice and service”, the party chief said that membership drive is an important activity of any outfit and it strengthens the organisation.
Apart from including people in Odisha as BJD’s member, Naveen also invited those living outside the state. “I want the people outside the state to also become members of the BJD. For them, the party has made online arrangements to register their membership,” he said.
He said his party leaders will go from door to door and apprise the public about the aim and objectives of the regional party. The party is dedicated to protect the interest of Odisha, he said.
Without taking the name of BJP, the BJD supremo said: “Some parties are using miss call as a mode of membership drive. Missed call dairy is their membership book. However, we are much above that process. Our party leaders will approach the people directly to become a member of the BJD.”
The BJD president claimed his party’s government has done a lot of good work for the state and it has become a model for others including the Central government which often followed the Odisha government’s schemes.
The BJD’s membership drive which is launched every three years will continue till December 9 for two months. The members will be accepted from all assembly constituencies.