Controversial Raja Singh gets Hyderabad as Telangana BJP picks LS poll in-charges

Hyderabad: The BJP in Telangana on Monday appointed key party leaders as 'political in-charges' for all 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, putting MLA T Raja Singh, whose suspension from the party was revoked last year, in charge of Hyderabad where AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi is the MP.

Union Tourism Minister and state BJP president G Kishan Reddy made these appointments, a BJP release said. K Laxman, the party's Rajya Sabha MP, is the incharge for Secunderabad Lok Sabha consituency, which Reddy currently represents.

Raja Singh, who was suspended from the party in 2022 following derogatory remarks about Prophet Mohammed, has been given the responsibility of managing the BJP's poll-related tasks in the politically sensitive constituency of Hyderabad, which is represented in Parliament by the old-Hyderabad-based AIMIM.

The saffron party has also appointed all eight newly-elected BJP MLAs in the state as in-charges for different constituencies. BJP sources said the "political in-charges" would manage tasks like coordination and campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls.

BJP had won four of the 17 seats in Telangana in the 2019 general elections.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on a visit to the state on December 28 last year, had set the party a target of winning at least 10 seats and to secure a 35 per cent vote share in Telangana in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

BJP won just eight of the 119 seats in the recent legislative assembly polls in the state.