The Bhartiya Janta Party on Sunday revoked the suspension of Telangana MLA T Raja Singh who was suspended by the saffron party last year for his alleged derogatory comments against Prophet Muhammad. He was also arrested for the remarks, months after the party suspended Nupur Sharma for similar comments. Now, nearly a month away from the elections in the southern state, the BJP has brought him back and also fielded him from the Goshamahal constituency.
He also thanked the party leadership for the decision.
Responding to the development, Raja Singh thanked the party’s top leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief JP Nadda, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah along with the state leadership.
Taking to X, he said, "I express my heartfelt gratitude to the BJP Leadership for nominating me as the Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate in the #Goshamahal Constituency for the upcoming 2023 legislative assembly election."
While talking about his upcoming fight with the AIMIM in the Assembly polls, he said, "Goshamahal Assembly constituency comes under Hyderabad Parliamentary constituency. The MP is Asaduddin Owaisi who is anti-national. I am the MLA from here and I defeated one of his men to become one. Asaduddin Owaisi used to sell Muslim votes to Congress. He now sells votes to BRS. He is a businessman. In the time to come, I will keep winning from here and give a reply to the anti-nationals."
Singh's name was announced by the BJP in its first list of candidates that it released on Sunday. The party has fielded MPs Soyam Bapu Rao from Boath, Arvind Dharmapuri from Koratla and Bandi Sanjay Kumar from Karimnagar.
A senior BJP leader told ThePrint said, “Goshamahal is surrounded by constituencies represented by AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) and Raja continuously attacked AIMIM. His Hindutva credentials are known across the country. His candidature will polarise the election at least in a few surrounding seats of Hyderabad. Revoking his suspension was discussed during the Friday core group meeting.”
According to a report in the News Minute, Singh has been booked in over 100 cases many of which involve communal offences and hate speeches.