In a significant political move ahead of the Telangana Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its first list of 52 candidates. The selection of candidates for the 119-member Assembly reveals a strategic alignment with the BJP’s preparations for upcoming state polls and the 2024 general election. Notably, the party has decided to revoke the suspension of legislator T Raja Singh, who had been mired in controversy.
T Raja Singh, the sole BJP candidate to secure victory in the 2018 Telangana polls, has been re-nominated from the Goshamahal constituency. His suspension from the party was linked to contentious statements about Prophet Muhammad, leading to his arrest under the Preventive Detention Act. However, the Telangana High Court subsequently cleared the charges, granting Raja Singh bail. Union Minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy confirmed the decision to lift the suspension, stating it came “after due consideration of his explanation in response to the show cause notice served by the party.” Raja Singh expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah for the reinstatement.
The BJP’s first list of candidates for Telangana also features three sitting MPs. Adilabad MP Soyam Bapu Rao will contest from Boath, Nizamabad MP Arvind Dharmapuri from Korutla, and former state BJP president and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar from the Karimnagar Assembly seat. G Kishan Reddy, the current state chief and BJP MP from Telangana, has not been nominated for the state polls as of now.
Etela Rajender, the former health minister in the K Chandrashekar Rao cabinet, has been named as the BJP’s candidate in Huzurabad. Rajender, formerly with the KCR-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi, joined the BJP in 2021 after being removed from his ministerial position. He subsequently won the Huzurabad by-election in 2021. Rajender will also contest from the Gajwel Assembly constituency, where he faces KCR, his former leader and the BRS chief, who is also competing from Kamareddy.
Out of the 52 names in the BJP’s initial list of candidates, 12 are women, reflecting the party’s commitment to gender diversity. This move is particularly significant in the context of the recent passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament. Additionally, Dr. K Laxman, the chief of the party’s OBC morcha, emphasized that the BJP is actively providing opportunities to candidates from marginalized groups, including OBC, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes.
As the election season in Telangana gains momentum, the BJP’s candidate selection, including the revival of T Raja Singh and the inclusion of sitting MPs, will shape the political landscape and set the stage for a closely watched assembly election.
Sources By Agencies
