New Delhi: Union ministers, chief ministers, and elected representatives from the sarpanch to parliamentarians will spearhead the BJP’s nationwide membership drive starting on September 2, an exercise that will serve as the launch pad of the party’s internal polls leading to the election of its new president.

The start of the drive will be marked by BJP president J P Nadda renewing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s membership in the party before its senior leaders fan out across the country.

BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde, who is also the head of the membership drive, appealed to people to join the party in a big way. A strong BJP will lead to the making of a ‘Viksit Bharat’, he said.

The first phase of the membership drive will go on until September 25, and then a review of the exercise will be carried out before the launch of the second phase on October 1. It will continue until October 15, he said.

Active members, a term for party workers who can contest organizational elections after making a certain number of new members, will be enrolled between October 16-31.

Sources said there was no plan to appoint a working president before a full-fledged president is elected.