Bengaluru: AICC President Rahul Gandhi’s ambitious ‘Shakti’ program (party membership drive to attract more youth into party folds through Whatsapp) has not served its purpose in the state.
KPCC President Dinesh Gundurao expressed his displeasure against party secretaries who are the in-charge of Shakti registration program across the state, while he extended the deadline to December 15 for Shakti registration program.
Rahul Gandhi inaugurated Shakti membership drive in July this year considering 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Anyone can avail the party membership by texting their voter ID number to ‘7045006100’ mobile number through Whatsapp.
Earlier, the KPCC had given deadline till November 30th, but party workers and secretaries have failed to achieve the target and this had left KPCC President Dinesh Gundurao red-faced.
It is said that North Indian states have performed better than Karnataka in the drive. Chhattisgarh enrolled six lakh members, Rajasthan enrolled seven lakh, Madhya Pradesh has enrolled six lakh, but Karnataka, which has over six crore population was able to enrol only three lakh membership, as against a target of 10 lakh membership. What is disappointing is the fact that the Congress is in power in Karnataka and yet the party could not lure new entrants. The poor performance of the KPCC has put its President into an embarrassing position, said a senior leader in Congress. Further, the drive is lagging behind in Assembly Constituencies, which are represented by the Congress. Despite the high command making it clear that those seeking cabinet berths and posts in boards and corporation should perform during the drive and prove their worth, the drive still fell flat in the state.
Party workers have been asked to take up membership drive in all booths of 224 Assembly constituencies. Only 3 Assembly constituencies- Yeshwantapura, Hubballi-Dharwad West and Hangal Assembly segment have achieved 100 percent target.
There percentage in some other constituencies are here-Devarahipparagi-72%, Basavanabagewadi-81%, Shirahatti-76%, Gadaga-98%, Ron-94%, Naragunda-81%, Navalagunda-93%, Kundagol-92%, Hubballi-Dharwad West-93%, Kalaghatagi-97%, Haveri-89%, Ranebennuru-89%,
Arasikere-12%, Madduru-28%, Beluru-8%, Holenarasipura-12%, Arakalagudu-10%, Sakaleshapura-18%, Belthangady-33%, Madikeri-22%, T.Narasipura-47%, Hanuru-31%, Kollegala-33 and Chamarajanagara-30% . Assembly Constituencies in BBMP limits have also not achieved the target.
