Hyderabad: Suspended BJP MLA T Raja Singh rubbished speculative reports that he would be joining the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) soon, and that he would support it in the coming assembly elections scheduled to be held in Telangana by the year end.
In a video message, Raja Singh who was suspended by the BJP party for his alleged remarks against Prophet Muhammad last year, said that his preference is to remain in the BJP and that he will wait for the party to lift the suspension imposed on him.
“If the suspension is not lifted, I will refrain from politics and focus on supporting Hindu Dharma. Due to ideology and vision no other party would accept me except the BJP. I will contest in the upcoming elections from the Goshamahal constituency on a BJP ticket only,” he said in the video.
There has been a buzz in political circles that Raja Singh will join the TDP, as even after six months of suspension by the BJP’s central leadership, he was still being ignored. Interestingly, the suspended MLA originally began his career from the TDP in Hyderabad.
Raja Singh joined the Telugu Desam Party in 2009 and made his political debut. He contested on behalf of the TDP in the Municipal Corporation elections and worked as a corporator from 2009 to 2014. Later, he joined BJP and in the 2014 Telangana assembly elections, he contested from a BJP ticket from the Goshamahal constituency and won against Congress candidate Mukesh Goud with a majority of 46,793 votes.
In the 2018 assembly elections also, Raja contested as a BJP candidate and won against TRS candidate Premsingh Rathore with a majority of 17,734 votes. He was the only BJP candidate who won a seat in the Assembly polls. Local reports suggested that he is ready to join the Telugu Desam Party which gave him a political life and that he personally held talks with Telugu Desam Party’s Telangana state president Kasani Gnaneshwar a few days ago.
It is rumoured locally that Raja Singh has assured the TDP party leaders that he will give his full support to the TDP candidates to win the Goshamahal constituency and three other seats. It is being rumoured that if Raja Singh enters the fray from TDP, BJP is considering the possibility of giving ticket to Begum Bazar corporator Shankar Yadav or former minister late leader Mukesh Goud’s son Vikram Goud.
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