New Delhi: The BJP’s lone legislator from Telangana, T. Raja Singh, has yet again landed in controversy after refusing to participate in the swearing-in ceremony on January 17 because the designated pro-tem speaker belongs to the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

Usually, the oldest MLA-elect is chosen as the pro-tem speaker. Seventy-year-old Mumtaz Ahmed Khan is the oldest among the 119 elected representatives to the Telangana legislative assembly. In a press release, governor E.S.L. Narasimhan’s office on Saturday confirmed Khan would be the pro-tem speaker and will take oath on January 16.

Reacting to the announcement, Singh – who has a history of making communal statements – said he would refuse to take oath before an MLA from ‘that dirty party’, referring to the AIMIM. In a video uploaded to his Facebook page, the Goshamahal MLA said, “All the MLAs have to take oath in front of an AIMIM MLA. This decision has been taken by the Telangana CM KCR. I would like to say that Raja Singh will not go to the Telangana assembly and will not take oath in front of him.”

“I will not take oath in front of a Speaker belonging to that (AIMIM) party, which speaks about finishing off Hindus and won’t say ‘Vande Mataram’ or ‘Bharat mata ki jai’. I won’t take oath in front of a Speaker from such a dirty party,” he added.

Singh said he would consider taking legal recourse. Despite the governor’s office making the decision, he requested chief minister-designate K. Chandrasekhar Rao to revoke it.

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While the BJP managed to win five seats in the state’s first assembly elections in 2014, only Raja Singh was able to retain his seat in the December 2018 elections. According to his election affidavit, the Goshamahal MLA is facing 43 cases, including for hate speech. Singh was also in the news after his affidavit showed an astronomical increase in his assets, rising by 14,107%.

Singh stirred up a controversy in July last year when he said undocumented immigrants should be “shot if they don’t leave India“. This was one of his many communal and divisive statements.