Cracks in Telangana BJP as Raja Singh quits over Ramchander Rao elevation to party chief

Rao started his political career in the RSS-affiliated student outfit ABVP in 1977. He was a state executive member of the ABVP for five years. During the last few years of his tenure with the ABVP, Rao also worked with the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the BJP’s youth wing, from 1980 to 1982.

A leader who completed his Master’s degree from Hyderabad’s Osmania University, Rao later obtained a legal degree from the same institute. After this, he served in the legal cell of the BJP for close to a decade. He worked as the general secretary of BJP in undivided Andhra Pradesh from 2009 to 2012. He was the state BJP spokesperson for several years, even after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into two states in 2014. “He was known chiefly for his interaction with the public and his keen sense of commitment towards the party,” a BJP leader said.

Rao also served as a lawyer in metropolitan courts in Hyderabad and High Court of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. “He has been practicing in the Supreme Court in recent times and is a time-tested lawyer,” a BJP source said.

Rao’s candidature, however, came as a surprise because former Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and Lok Sabha MP Eatela Rajender, who had joined the BJP in 2021, was till Sunday considered to be the front-runner for the post.

There were other aspirants in the mix, including Union minister and former state party chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar and Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Aravind. “Rao’s selection will, to a great extent, quell the dissatisfaction within the party,” a BJP leader said.

Rao himself told the press on Monday that he does not think factionalism is a factor within the BJP. “There are people who might have differences but all of them are collectively supporting the ideological base of the BJP,” he said.

However, at around 4.30pm on Monday, half-an-hour after the deadline for nominations, controversial BJP MLA T Raja Singh appeared before the media with his nomination papers.

“As my nomination, which did not get the support of (at least 10) councillors who were threatened with dire consequences, did not get accepted, I have decided to quit the party,” he said.

He said that he had taken several personal risks for the party. “My family and myself are under the scrutiny of terrorists. I have taken that kind of risk for the party. But the BJP has leaders who do not want the party to come to power in Telangana,” Singh said.

In his resignation letter which was submitted to outgoing BJP state president and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, Singh wrote that Rao’s impending appointment came as a “shock and disappointment”.

He also wrote that his resignation reflects the “pain and frustration of lakhs of BJP karyakartas and supporters who feel sidelined and unheard”. He added that he considers himself to be still attached to Hindutva ideology and he will continue to serve the people of his Goshamahal constituency.

The BJP’s only Hyderabad MLA, Singh is no stranger to controversy. Known among the supporters in his constituency Goshamahal as “Tiger Raja” and “Hindu Hriday Samrat”, the 48-year-old MLA has frequently faced action over his alleged hate speeches.

In 2022, he had been suspended from the BJP over his alleged remarks against Prophet Mohammed. He was, however, reinstated a year later ahead of the 2023 Telangana Assembly polls, in which he won the Goshamahal seat for a third consecutive time.