Hundred and one members were enrolled at a public function organised by the party in the Burari block on Wednesday and the party now plans to launch a month-long drive to enroll 10,000 such paying members during September. The party hopes to raise at total of Rs 1.5 crore in the elaborate exercise.

Though the scheme has been in existence for the past one year, during which the party has raised Rs 76 lakh by enrolling 4,500 members, the drive is being intensified so as to reach the target of Rs 1.5 crore before the election fever catches up.

Dismissing the charges of gimmickry, state party president Mange Ram Garg on Thursday said: ``We are doing away with the earlier practice of collecting `thailis' (money bags) in the name of our big leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi and A.B. Vajpayee. Instead, we are relying on our committed members, workers or voters to contribute to the organisation.''

``The very fact that 101 members could be enrolled from a predominantly poor locality like Bhalswa Jehangirpuri in the Burari block indicates that our voters are prepared to provide the much needed financial support to the party,'' Garg further said, adding that the money would be divided in four sections to take care of the annual expenses of the organisation at different levels and make it self-reliant.

When asked if the funds for ensuing elections would also be raised in a similar manner from those who were prepared to shell out, he said that the drive was meant only for raising funds for meeting the organisational expenses like printing of posters, organising press conferences and running its offices on a day-to-day basis. A chief has been appointed in each of the Capital's 16 districts to oversee the campaign.