BJP ‘likely to’ revoke suspension of controversial Telangana MLA T Raja, field him from Goshamahal
New Delhi: The BJP is likely to revoke the suspension of its MLA T Raja Singh and field him from Goshamahal seat in the 30 November Telangana assembly polls, ThePrint has learnt.
The controversial MLA was suspended by the BJP and arrested by the Telangana police last year over his alleged derogatory remarks on the Prophet Muhammad. But according to party sources, the Telangana BJP is considering fielding him from the same constituency. Singh was the lone winning BJP candidate in the 2018 Telangana assembly elections.
A senior BJP leader told ThePrint: “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.”
T Raja Singh has had several criminal cases lodged against him, most of them for hate speech. In January this year, he reportedly urged Hindus to boycott goods from shops run by members of the Muslim community. An FIR was lodged against him in connection with this in March.
In July, former Lok Sabha MP and senior party leader M.Vijayashanthi had urged the party leadership to lift the suspension of T Raja. Even former Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay had requested the party high command to take a decision in favour of T Raja, party sources told ThePrint.
Last year, he was arrested by the Hyderabad police for allegedly making objectionable comments about the Muslim community and the Prophet while taking a dig at Munawar Faruqui, a Muslim stand-up comedian, in a YouTube video.
In 2020, Facebook, now Meta, banned him for violating its policy on hate speech.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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