Amit Shah on 2-day UP visit from Oct 29

Lucknow, Oct 26 (IANS) Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a two-day visit to Lucknow from October 29 during which he will flag off a mega membership drive of the BJP and hold discussions on poll preparations.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday, will kick off a membership drive, which aims to add more than 1.5 crore new members. The party already has around 2.3 crore members in the state. These include those lakhs of people who have affirmed their preference for the party by giving 'missed calls' on a dedicated number shared by the party.

The membership drive gains significance as BJP has set a target of improving upon its tally of 312 seats it won in 2017 Assembly elections, while cornering 39.67 per cent votes.

Shah's visit also assumes significance in view of the fact that the party is mulling changing the tickets of sitting legislators to dilute the anti-incumbency factor in the upcoming Assembly elections.

The changing of legislators will take care of voter dissatisfaction and nonperformance at the ground level.

The party is also committed to giving tickets to leaders who have joined in from other parties.

However, a section of the party leaders feels that large-scale changing tickets could invite internal sabotage and a backlash.

"Large-scale changes can never be 'risk proof' but extreme caution has to be taken in this exercise. The advantage this time is that the party organisation is more robust than ever and can work as a shock absorber in such situations," said a senior party functionary.

Party sources said that senior leaders have been working in detail on the feedback about performance of the sitting MLAs and are also cross checking the feedback.