Is Raja Singh's suspension revocation too little, too late?

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party finally revoked the suspension of its senior Telangana unit leader T Raja Singh. However, the move may not bring in much-anticipated electoral gains for the saffron unit as it is being seen “as too little too late” for the Hindutva cause in the southern Indian state.

It is believed that the party could have revoked the suspension of Singh earlier and it would have benefited the saffron cause too. However, months of delay is understood to now cost the BJP as it tries to woo back the hardcore Hindutva voters in the state. Raja Singh was suspended from the party after his controversial comments last year.

Sources stated that a strong Hindutva face like the Goshamahal MLA, Singh, could have helped the BJP to take on the K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi government effectively. However, the feuds between senior BJP leaders in Telangana led to the delay in bringing Singh back to the party which is now likely to cost it the Assembly polls as well.

The continued battle between senior BJP leaders Eatala Rajender and Bandi Sanjay ensured that the decision on the crucial issue was delayed to just days ahead of the voting day. Telangana’s 119-member Legislative Assembly is scheduled to go for polls on November 30 and the results will be declared on December 3.

A section of senior leadership still feels that the suspension of Singh could have been avoided and was seen by the local cadre as a knee-jerk reaction. “Bringing him back to the mainstream state politics will help the BJP in the long run,” sources added.

Singh has been the face of the saffron front in Telangana for the past several years and is the BJP’s face to secure the votes of the Hindu population. Raja Singh is known for his stance on ‘love jihad’ and following hard-core Hindutva ideology. Though currently out on bail, even during his suspension, the BJP leader was triggering controversies with his speeches.

BJP on the back foot?

In Telangana, over the past few years, the BJP has been trying to emerge as the leading opposition party with an aim to sideline KCR. With the KCR government facing severe anti-incumbency and allegations of corruption, the BJP had hoped to emerge stronger, even holding its national executive in July last year in Hyderabad. However, the BJP has seemingly squandered its advantage in Telangana by being unable to put a lid on infighting and non-utilization of its leadership effectively.

The BJP has been eyeing expansion in South India ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and with 17 Lok Sabha seats, Telangana is an important part of the plan to secure additional seats. In 2019 the BJP was able to secure four Lok Sabha seats from Telangana, which it wants to at least double in 2024.

The Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana are being treated by political parties as the semifinal for the 2024 general elections.

With the BJP recently losing its southern bastion of Karnataka, the saffron unit is desperate to make inroads into Telangana and regain some lost ground. Many believe that the party’s only hope in the state would be to return to its Hindutva roots and aim at maximizing its Assembly seats in Telangana ahead of crucial 2024 Lok Sabha polls as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks his third term in office.