No politics without the BJP: Maverick Telangana T Raja Singh
T Raja Singh, a suspended BJP MLA, denied plans to join any political party other than the BJP or run as an independent candidate. He said that his suspension will be removed very soon and that he would run in the forthcoming Assembly elections from his present seat of Goshamahal.
Singh said that if he didn’t get a ticket, he would quit politics but keep pushing for the creation of a Hindu Rashtra.
When asked whether he would join a secular party like the BRS or the Congress, he refused it, claiming that he would uphold Hindutva philosophy and pass away before doing so.
“I want to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra. “If the BJP does not give me a ticket, I will leave politics and work to establish a Hindu Rashtra,” said the divisive MLA, who was suspended by the party last year after uploading a video that included insults to the Prophet.
Raja Singh was detained for over three months after being apprehended in accordance with the Preventive Detention Act.
He seemed certain today, nevertheless, that the BJP will lift his ban at the proper moment before the elections. He also said that he will run for the Assembly as the BJP’s representative from Goshamahal.
Since Singh is a well-known Hindutva figure in Telangana, right-wing groups have been pushing for the ban to be lifted. Political rumors circulated that the BJP offered Raja Singh the Zaheerabad Lok Sabha seat rather than the Goshamahal Assembly constituency. He has been emphatic, nevertheless, that he would run from Goshamahal, the only seat in the Old City district controlled by a group other than AIMIM.
Raja Singh criticized the BRS for neglecting to include a candidate for Goshamahal in its first list and said that the party’s nominee will only be chosen after discussions with AIMIM leaders Asaduddin Owaisi and Akbaruddin Owaisi at the party’s Dar-us-Salam headquarters.
The BRS has been considering running for the seat since Singh’s suspension, but it may hold off until the BJP sets the record straight over Singh’s suspension or Goshamahal candidacy. On the last day of the Assembly session earlier this month, Singh gave an emotional parting address in which he expressed his certainty that he would not return to the August assembly.
