Excelsior Correspondent
![PCC chief G A Mir addressing party workers during function in Jammu on Tuesday.](http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/page151-300x200.jpg)
JAMMU, Apr 7: Pradesh Congress Committee president Ghulam Ahmed Mir has urged the party cadre in the State to go for a vigorous membership drive of the party in every nook and corner of the State in order to strengthen and expand the secular, progressive and democratic space in the three regions of the state.
Addressing party workers at the PCC headquarters, Shaheedi Chowk, here today at the launch of party’s membership drive in Jammu and Kashmir, Mir said that strengthening of Congress party means strengthening the secular and progressive forces in the State.
PCC chief said that Congress is the only unifying force in the country and the State as it is the party of all religions, regions and sections of our pluralistic society. He said Congress has always taken care of the interests and aspirations of different sections belonging to various faiths, caste, creed and color and there is no such alternative force in the country which has its history, principles and approach towards poor and downtrodden sections of the society.
Mr Mir urged the senior functionaries, legislators, district presidents, contesting candidates, besides block functionaries and representatives of Mahila, Youth, Seva Dal, INTUC and NSUI to enroll new members from different sections with special emphasis on youth, women, minorities and other downtrodden sections of the society. He said that this is the only way to defeat the designs of communal divisive and opportunist forces in the state.
Chairman of the Membership Drive Committee for Jammu province Sham Lal Sharma, senior vice president in his address explained the latest instructions with regard to membership and urge the party cadres to gear up for the cause at the shortest possible time. He said that quality and not the quantity should be the target and those who are committed to the ideology and principles of the party need to be brought in to the party fold. He said that membership shall be distributed through the organizational setup so that only genuine persons become the members of the party all levels up to the booth level.
Nawang Rigzin Jora-CLP leader while expressing gratitude to the party cadres who have been strengthening the philosophy and ideology of the party, said that the present unholy alliance is exposed before the people and the BJP is exploited the sentiments of the people in Jammu has surrendered for the sake of power and same is the case with PDP. He said that Congress would emerge stronger in the state in near future as it has its strong base in all three regions.
Prominent among those who attended the function included Mohd Sayeed, Madan Lal Sharma, Gurmukh Singh, Ghulam Nabi Monga, Raman Bhalla, G M Saroori, Mula Ram, Abdul Radhid Dar, Kanta Bhan, Ravinder Sharma, Shabir Ahmed Khan, Manjit Singh, Yogesh Sawhney, Dr Manohar Lal Sharma, SS Channi, Shahnawaz Choudhary, Manmohan Singh, Namrata Sharma, Vikar Rasool, Gulzar Ahmed Wani, Prakash Sharma, Subash Gupta, Indu Pawar, Anil Chopra, Sain Rashid, Rajinder Singh, Pardeep Singh Parihar, Maheshwar Singh, Girdhari Lal Chalotra, Shiv Dev Singh, Ashok Sharma, Ashwani Puri, B S Sambyal, Pranav Shagotra and Dr Rashid Choudhary.