Hyderabad: The first session of the third Telangana Legislative Assembly began here on Saturday with the oath-taking process of the newly-elected MLAs getting underway.
The BJP MLAs, however, stayed away from the House, alleging that AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi was appointed as Pro Tem Speaker in violation of rules.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was the first to take the oath, followed by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.
The House was adjourned to December 14 after several members took the oath.
Before the commencement of the session, Akbaruddin Owaisi was administered the oath by Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan as the Pro Tem Speaker at the Raj Bhavan and he presided over the proceedings in the House.
Owaisi was appointed as Pro Tem Speaker though there were other senior members in the House, Union Minister and state BJP president G Kishan Reddy alleged.
“There is a tradition of a senior person being appointed as the pro tem Speaker in the Assembly. The BJP opposes the appointment of AIMIM’s Akbaruddin Owaisi as Pro Tem Speaker as per an understanding (of Congress) with AIMIM,” Reddy told reporters.
Observing that the Congress has only a wafer-thin majority in the Assembly, he claimed that the government is faced with a situation of collapsing even for a small pretext. Because of this, the AIMIM member is made the Pro Tem Speaker as per a plan, he alleged.
“Because of the violation of the Legislative Assembly’s rules, we are opposing the appointment of the AIMIM person as the Pro Tem Speaker. Therefore, our members are boycotting taking the oath with him in the chair,” he said.
