He exuded confidence that his suspension would be revoked at the earliest and that all the central and state leaders were with him.
Published Aug 29, 2023 | 6:56 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 29, 2023 | 6:56 PM
Raja Singh speaking to reporters. (Screengrab)
Suspended Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh has made sensational comments, saying that he would quit politics if the BJP failed to give him a ticket to contest from the Goshamahal Assembly constituency in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.
He also claimed on Tuesday, 29 August, that his suspension from the saffron party would be revoked soon.
“I won’t join secular parties even if I die because I am a true Hindu and my ultimate goal is to achieve the dream of the Hindu rasthra in Telangana and India,” said Raja Singh.
I will remain in the BJP or else I will quit politics for a few years and work for establishing Hindu rashtra,” he said emotionally, making it clear that he would not join the BRS or the Congress.
Raja Singh said this when reporters asked him whether he was planning to contest with the support of the BRS if he did not get a ticket from the BJP.
He had already declared on 21 August that he intended to contest the Telangana Assembly elections from his old constituency.
Interacting with reporters, he said he would not contest even as an independent candidate or from any other party if the BJP failed to give him a ticket this time.
When scribes asked how long would his suspension continue, he exuded confidence that it would be revoked at the earliest and that all the central and state leaders were with him.
He said that the response from the central and state committees towards him was also excellent and they were waiting for an appropriate time which, he said, would certainly arrive shortly.
He expressed confidence in getting a ticket to “win once again from the constituency”. “I will definitely contest from the Goshamahal Assembly constituency and will be the MLA again, he said.
The BJP suspended Raja Singh from the party a little more than a year ago — on 23 August last year, to be exact — over the objectionable comments he made in a YouTube video.
He later took down the video as it led to widespread criticism and even violence in some cases, and the police took action against him.
నేను సచ్చినా సెక్యులర్ పార్టీలకు వెళ్లను.. నా ప్రాణం పోయినా బీఆర్ఎస్, కాంగ్రెస్ పార్టీలకు పోను.. pic.twitter.com/HEW102nV9M
— Raja Singh (Modi Ka Parivar) (@TigerRajaSingh) August 29, 2023
Referring to the delay in announcing a candidate for the Goshamahal constituency by the BRS, Raja Singh told reporters on Tuesday that declaring the party candidate’s name was not in the hands of the BRS leadership.
In fact, the candidate would be finalised by AIMIM president Asaddudin Owaisi and his brother and Assembly floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, he claimed.
He said the AIMIM would decide the candidate for the BRS party in Goshamahal and that was the reason why Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao did not announce the candidate’s name to contest from the constituency.
In the 2018 elections, the BRS fielded Prem Singh Rathod following instructions from the AIMIM, he said. However, Rathod lost the elections.
The party’s candidates subsequently won two Assembly bypolls — in Huzurabad and Dubakka.
Stating that the AIMIM was planning to defeat him from the Goshamahal constituency, 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.
He exuded confidence that he would get the BJP ticket with the blessings of Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Union Tourism Minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy, and BJP OBC Morcha national president K Laxman.
The BJP suspended Raja Singh from the party on 23 August, 2022, 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, a member secretary of the central disciplinary committee of the 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 ahead of a stand-up comedy show by Munawar Faruqui in Hyderabad on 22 August last year.
Raja Singh was released in November 2022 after the Telangana High Court set aside his arrest under provisions of the Preventive Detention (PD) Act.
Since then Raja Singh has stayed away from the party activities. He only took part in the Sri Rama Navami Shobha Yatra procession organized from Dhoolpet to Hanuman Vyayamshala in Sultan Bazaar on 30 March, 2023.
Meanwhile, a case was registered against Singh for delivering a provocative speech during the Ram Navami march.
This was the 10th case against Singh since he was granted conditional bail by the high court.
Incidentally, the speeches were made on the same day that Singh was booked by Greater Mumbai police for delivering a hate speech at a Hindu right-wing group’s rally in January.
He was also booked by Latur police on 27 February for the same reason.
Raja Singh was the only BJP candidate who won, from the Goshamahal constituency, during the Assembly elections held in 2018 while all other candidates of the party lost the elections badly.
Given his popularity and mass appeal not only in Telangana but also elsewhere in the country, the BJP central leadership might take not take any decision against Raja Singh and might revoke the suspension facilitating to contest the elections.
