Raja Singh stays away from crucial poll strategy meet

Sources say Raja Singh was unhappy over the party leadership allotting Hyderabad seat to Madhavi Latha.

Hyderabad: Is firebrand BJP MLA T Raja Singh slowly becoming a matter of concern for the State leadership as he keeps on creating trouble for them with his actions and statements, especially during elections?

The absence of Raja Singh during the crucial meeting of MPs, MLAs, Parliament candidates, district presidents and senior leaders held on Sunday to discuss strategies for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held on May 13 has become a hot topic in party circles with senior leaders taking serious note of the absence of the senior MLA.

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Sources say Raja Singh was unhappy over the party leadership allotting Hyderabad seat to Madhavi Latha. He is reportedly not cooperating with Madhavi Latha and keeping away from campaigning. Raja Singh has a lot of followers and influence in the Old City and without his support, the BJP cannot perform well in the Lok Sabha polls, hence the party leadership is not taking any action against him though he had been defying its order several times.

It’s an open secret that there has been a cold war going on between BJP State president G Kishan Reddy and Raja Singh since quite some time. Raja Singh has been keeping away from the party office and activities for a long time and not taking part in programmes taken up by the party in the Old City areas.

Last month too, Raja Singh made some sarcastic remarks against Kishan Reddy which went viral on social media platform. He offered to contest from Secunderabad constituency, represented by Kishan Reddy, and asked Reddy to contest against AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi from the Hyderabad seat.

The cold war has been on since Raja Singh, without consulting Kishan Reddy, announced that BJP MLAs would not take oath from pro-tem speaker Akbaruddin Owaisi. Kishan Reddy reportedly pulled up Singh and asked him not to make any announcements without consulting the party. Annoyed by the reprimand, Raja Singh did not attend a pooja organised for the newly elected MLAs at the Bhagyalakshmi Temple. He even stayed away from the protest organised against the appointment of Owaisi as pro-tem speaker at Telangana martyrs memorial opposite the Assembly.

The underlying issues worsened after Singh was denied the post of BJP Legislative Party leader and was not even considered for any post in the legislature. Raja Singh staying away from election preparatory meetings has not gone well with the State leadership and it is learnt that they are planning to lodge a complaint with the party central leadership.