Controversial Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Telangana, Raja Singh, on Sunday yet again sparked a row after he refused to take oath into the Telangana assembly before an MLA from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen party.
A Member of Legislative Assembly from Telangana’s Goshamahal constituency in Hyderabad and the only BJP MLA from the state, Singh objected to swear-in before AIMIM’s five-time MLA Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, who was designated as pro tem speaker on Saturday night.
Accusing Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao of playing into the hands of the AIMIM, Singh said that AIMIM is a party that wants to “finish off Hindus”.
“The Telangana Chief Minister, who is a follower of the Nizam, of AIMIM, took a decision last night that for three days, the AIMIM MLA will be the speaker. I, Raja Singh, will not step into the Telangana Assembly or take the oath before the MLA of a party which speaks of eliminating Hindus… I won’t take the oath before a party which speaks of a war in the country, which does not sing Vande Mataram, doesn’t proclaim ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’... I will not take the oath before a dirty party like that,” Singh said in a video that was widely circulated on Sunday.
Known for his fiery ‘hate-speeches’, Singh was the flagbearer for the BJP’s attempt to make inroads into India’s most recently formed state.
While KCR and his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) managed to bag a majority in the 119-member state assembly by bagging 88 seats, while other parties such as the Congress, the Telugu Desam Party and the BJP failed to make their mark in the assembly elections late last year.