Ranchi, July 26: The JVM is set to embark on a statewide membership drive to consolidate its organisational base and launch a major political battle against the Raghubar Das government in the coming days.

JVM supremo Babulal Marandi today announced the membership drive from August 18 to September 23 to enrol a minimum of five lakh people to revive the party's base that suffered a serious setback due to massive defections that saw six out of its eight MLAs joining the ruling BJP earlier this year.

Speaking on the concluding day of a two-day conclave of the party's central working committee in Ranchi, Marandi said that the drive would focus on recruiting committed people, who had faith in the party's ideology.

"We need to involve workers at the grassroots level to popularise the party's ideology and convince people to join us. If our 5,000 workers recruit five lakh members, it will create a history," the former chief minister said, taking a veiled jibe at the BJP that claimed to have enrolled around 50 lakh members during a similar drive earlier this year.

Expressing concern over rapid displacement, Marandi said the party would start a fresh movement against the Centre's land acquisition ordinance and the state government's failure to enact a domicile policy.

"It will be difficult for our opponents to wipe us out politically and ideologically," said Marandi, dropping hints of lethal ammo that his party was preparing against the Raghubar Das government.

During the conclave, the JVM central working committee passed a host of political resolutions, demanding a local employment policy in the state and reservation for permanent residents in giving contract for various development projects of the state government up to a work order of Rs 1 crore. It also lambasted the state government for its failure to implement the Food Security Act in Jharkhand and asked the Centre to release caste-based census report at the earliest.

Also, the party has decided to celebrate August 9 as Adivasi Divas. On the occasion, a seminar on tribal issues will be organised in Ranchi.

Later, addressing a news conference, senior party leader Pradeep Yadav said JVM workers would go door to door to convince people to join the party.

Rejecting the BJP's claim of having enrolled around 50 lakh new members physically and through missed calls, he said: "The BJP knows thousands of tricks to fool people and inflate the data."

Yadav accused government officials of misappropriating funds meant for supplying of paddy seeds. "Monsoon has arrived but farmers have not received seeds despite government's claims to have distributed paddy seeds. In fact, all distribution work has been done on paper only. Our party has received hundreds of complaints in this regard. Very soon we will form a fact-finding committee and release a white paper to expose the government. It is a big scam, flourishing right under the chief minister's noise," he alleged.