New Delhi: After setting an ambitious target of enrolling 17 lakh members in Jammu and Kashmir, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claims to have got off to a “good start” with more than a lakh members enrolling with it in the Kashmir region alone and is confident of increasing its tally in the Assembly polls.

Speculation is rife that the state, which is currently under the President’s Rule, could go to polls by the end of this year and the BJP leadership has asserted that it is ready for polls. Also, after getting an “enthusiastic response” during the panchayat polls held last year, the party has claimed that many sarpanchs in the Kashmir region have expressed desire to unfurl the tricolour on the Independence Day.  

On Tuesday, the BJP central leadership held a meeting with the party’s core group leaders from the state to get a feedback on the current political scenario and also to assess the party’s poll preparedness.

Organisation related issues, it was learnt, also came up for discussion along with the ongoing membership drive. The party had enrolled nearly 5.5 lakh members during its last membership drive which was launched in 2014 and now wants the tally to be at 17.

The BJP had formed its first state government along with the PDP after the last Assembly polls but then snapped ties with the regional party last year.

Being a dominant force in the Jammu region, the saffron party has been desperately trying to gain ground in the Kashmir region, from where it has so far failed to send any MLA to the state Assembly. Even in the Ladakh region trying hard to become a dominant political force.

“The difference between the voting percentage in the Panchayat polls and Lok Sabha polls show that the people have rejected the state’s political parties. If sanpanchs wants to unfurl the tricolour in the Valley, it shows that they were stopped earlier. The Modi government and its initiatives in the region have given hopes to the people and they are expressing it through enrolling with us,” said a senior BJP leader.