Raja Singh resigns; upset with BJP for choosing Ramachandra Rao as Telangana BJP president

Hyderabad: Goshamahal BJP MLA and poster boy of BJP’s Hindutva politics, T Raja Singh, has resigned from the party.

His resignation comes hours after the saffron party elected BJP senior leader and advocate N Ramachandra Rao as its new State president.

He will replace Secunderabad MP and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy as the BJP president for Telangana.

Sources indicated that the party is likely to accept the letter.

The resignation of Goshamahal MLA Raja Singh comes on the same day when the party’s high command elected the new president and is streamlining the leadership in Telangana.

On the day for filing the nomination for the BJP State president, Raja Singh and his supporters met Abhay Patel, the BJP leader and party in-charge. Raja Singh got a green signal to file his nomination from Patel.

According to the nomination rule, Raja Singh’s candidature must be supported by at least eight council members. However, he could only fetch the support of three. Hence, his candidature was disqualified, and this resulted in his revolt and resignation.

Public resignation letter

Raja Singh made his resignation public by displaying the letter on his social media accounts.

Sources who are privy to the matter told NewsMeter that Raja Singh was upset with the party’s decision to appoint N Ramachandra Rao as their new chief.

His supporters tried to protest at the party’s head office in Nampally during the filing of nominations, and they were handled. He expressed complete displeasure with the appointment of N Ramachandra Rao.

BJP has a new chief

On June 30, N Ramachandra Rao was the only candidate to file a nomination. Union Minister Bandi Sanjay was also in the city to support his candidature.

A source privy to development in the BJP told NewsMeter that for the next three years, Rao will lead the party in the State and then Bandi Sanjay will take over before elections.

Though Sanjay was removed from the president’s post in the last elections, the BJP top brass still looks at him as someone who can take on the Opposition in Telangana. Nizamabad MP Arvind Dharmapuri, who was also in the race for the president’s post, was seemingly not considered.

Malkajgiri MP Eatala Rajender, though given many opportunities within the BJP, is still seen as someone who supports the BRS in the State.

It may be recalled that Eatala Rajender was once a minister in the BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao’s government. He left the party after a fallout with KCR.

Source added that the camaraderie between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Bandi Sanjay indicated that the top brass takes his words seriously and therefore they agreed on Rao.

During the inauguration of the Turmeric board in Nizamabad, when Amit Shah asked the audience to raise their hands if they think BRS is corrupt and the large-scale corruption was done in the Kaleshwaram Project, Eatala did not lift his hand.This did not go unnoticed.

Party members have time and again informed the national leadership of Eatala’s closeness to a few BRS leaders.