Raja Singh said he would get the BJP ticket thanks to the blessings of Bandi Sanjay Kumar, G Kishan Reddy, and K Laxman.
BJP's suspended Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh. (X)
Breaking the silence on contesting the year-end Assembly elections in Telangana, suspended BJP MLA T Raja Singh on Monday, 21 August, said he would contest from his Goshamahal constituency — one of the four seats in which the ruling BRS has not named a candidate.
According to Raja Singh, who was suspended from the BJP in August 2022 for making controversial statements and outraging the feelings of community, it was the AIMIM that would decide the candidate for the BRS party in Goshamahal — and that was the reason Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao did not announce a candidate for the constituency.
In the last elections in 2018, the BRS fielded Prem Singh Rathod on the instructions of the AIMIM, Raja Singh said in a video message after KCR announced the BRS candidates for 115 of the 119 Assembly constituencies.
Rathod lost the election.
Stating that the AIMIM was planning to defeat him in Goshamahal, he thanked the voters for supporting him and ensuring his victory in the 2014 and 2018 Assembly elections.
He called upon the cadre to be prepared for the elections and emerge victorious from the constituency this time as well.
Raja Singh exuded confidence that he would get the BJP ticket with the blessings of Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Union Tourism Minister and Telangana BJP state president G Kishan Reddy, and BJP OBC Morcha national president K Laxman.
There has, in fact been, somewhat of a campaign to get the BJP to lift the suspension on Raja Singh. Several BJP leaders, including film start-turned-politician Vijayashanti, have interceding on his behalf.
Meanwhile, in a development that could spell discontent in the future, BJP leader and Huzurabad MLA Eatala Rajender met with party leader Vikram Goud, the son of former MLA Mukesh Goud, and reportedly discussed the affairs in the Goshamahal constituency.
But denying him a ticket from Goshamahal and handing over the constituency to Vikram Goud could spell trouble at a time there have been rumours that he is in conversation with the BRS.
Eatala, too, had met Raja Singh amidst talk that he was in a mood to move on from the BJP, though the suspended leader himself has vehemently denied any such intention.
On August 23, 2022, the BJP suspended Raja Singh from the party hours after his arrest by the Hyderabad police for allegedly making controversial statements and outraging religious feelings of a particular religion.
The letter signed by Om Pathak, Member Secretary, Central Disciplinary Committee, BJP, stated that Raja Singh had expressed views contrary to the party’s position on various matters.
Raja Singh had posted a video on YouTube allegedly referring to a particular community and to an upcoming concluded show by stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui in Hyderabad.
Raja Singh was released in November 2022 after Telangana High Court set aside his arrest under provisions of the Preventive Detention (PD) Act.
Since then Raja Singh has been staying away from party activities. He only took part in Sri Rama Navami Shobha Yatra procession organised from Dhoolpet to Hanuman Vyayamshala in Sultan Bazaar on March 30, 2023.
Raja Singh is the lone BJP candidate who won in the 2018 Assembly elections, while all the candidates lost the elections badly. The party’s candidates subsequently won two Assembly bypolls — in Huzurabad and Dubakka.
Given his popularity and mass appeal not only in Telangana but also elsewhere in the country, the BJP central leadership might not take any decision against Raja Singh. It might revoke his suspension and allow him to contest the elections.
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