Shillong, July 6: BJP North East general secretary (Organisation) Ajay Jamwal claimed that the people of Meghalaya would have voted for the saffron party had the programmes initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi were not prevented by the Congress from reaching them.

Speaking at the launching of the membership drive at BJP office on Saturday, Jamwal accused the then Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA-II) government of preventing the people of Meghalaya from receiving benefits given under various schemes and programmes initiated by the NDA government.

The BJP has only two MLAs in the 60-member Meghalaya Legislative Assembly and one of them, A.L Hek is the minister for health and family welfare.

“How can you expect the people to vote for the BJP when they are not aware about various initiatives taken up by the Centre. The people of Meghalaya would have voted for the party in huge numbers if they had got the benefits of the programmes of the Modi government,” he said.

The BJP leader further claimed that the party would have got 20 seats in Meghalaya during the 2018 Assembly elections. “The post of deputy chief minister would have gone to the party but unfortunately this has not happened due to strategies of the previous Congress-led government,” he said.

Stating that many people had doubts that the BJP will come back to power at the Centre in 2019, Jamwal said all including political parties and religious groups were against the Prime Minister, but the party was confident that the citizens of this country would repose faith on him.

The party has decided to take up the membership drive with the aim to further strengthen its base in Meghalaya following the poor performance in the last Lok Sabha polls. Over 150 people have enrolled themselves during the membership drive launched here.

According to Jamwal, the party will work hard to ensure that it will be able to form the government in Meghalaya in the future.

The BJP in Meghalaya has more than 40,000 members now, and the target is to enroll 2 lakh members and would work hard so that the BJP can form the government in Meghalaya in 2023.

People can also join the BJP by filling up application forms online and then call to the 8980808080. Each mobile number can enroll four members.

The enrollment will conclude on August 11.

BJP legislator from South Shillong, Sanbor Shullai, and other State BJP leaders were present at the launching of the membership drive.