Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA T Raja Singh on Monday tendered resignation from party amid a leadership tussle in the Telangana unit of the party. He announced the decision to resign from party shortly after media reports suggested that N Ramchander Rao is set to be the new president of BJP's Telangana unit.
In a letter to G Kishan Reddy, President of BJP Telangana unit, the BJP MLA said that the decision to appoint Ramchander Rao as the BJP state president came as a ‘shock and disappointment’ to him.
What Raja Singh said in X
“As per media reports, Shri Ramchander Rao is set to be appointed as the new BJP State President for Telangana. This decision has come as a shock and disappointment, not just to me, but to lakhs of Karyakartas, leaders, and voters who have stood by the party through every high and low,” Singh said in the letter shared by him on X (formerly Twitter).
“There are many capable senior leaders, MLAs, and MPs within our state who have tirelessly worked for the growth of BJP and who have the strength, credibility, and connect to lead the party forward,” he added.
Why Raja Singh is a headache for Telangana BJP
Currently an MLA from Goshamahal Assembly constituency, Thakur Raja Singh is known for his controversial speeches and has frequently faced criminal cases. Earlier, he was suspended from the party on 23 August 2022 for his remarks on prophet Muhammad, during the 2022 Muhammad remarks controversy, but his suspension was revoked on 22 October 2023, so that he could participate in the assembly elections.
[Raja Singh so far has 105 criminal cases registered against him, of which 18 were related to communal offences.
Raja Singh was in April 2010 arrested on charge of fanning communal clashes in Hyderabad and in 2012, when he was the Mangalhat representative for GHMC, Hyderabad Police nabbed him for theft and other crimes. They claimed he had knowingly purchased and had been using a stolen Toyota Qualis that belonged to the Government of Kerala for the past two years.
Raja Singh was in 2017 embroiled in various alleged hate speech controversies, including his remarks in May 2017 where he called the Old City area in Hyderabad "mini Pakistan."
In July 2017, he urged the Hindu community in West Bengal to respond in a manner similar to the 2002 Gujarat riots and he also repeatedly called for the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra by armed means.
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Raja Singh resigns from BJP over Ramchander Rao's likely appointment as Telangana state chief
