BJP boycotts Telangana oath-taking event over AIMIM leader's appointment as Pro-tem Speaker

Owaisi was appointed as pro-tem Speaker though there were other senior members in the House, state BJP president G Kishan Reddy alleged.

As the new government has taken the seat and the state legislative Assembly sessions have begun, politics has taken centre stage in Telangana. Opposing the nomination of AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi as the pro-tem Speaker by the Congress government, the newly-elected BJP MLAs on Saturday refused to take oath in front of him.

BJP called Congress for indulging in appeasement politics while violating laid down legislative protocol and rules to save their government which was formed with just five members in excess of the majority. While the magic number needed to form the government is 60, Congress secured 64 and its ally CPI one.

On day one of the 119 MLAs elected, only 101 took oath. While eight BJP MLAs had boycotted Saturday’s session saying they would take oath after the regular Speaker is elected. BRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao and his son K T Rama Rao could not take oath as the former had suffered a hip injury and underwent a surgical procedure.

“Government chose to nominate Akbaruddin Owaisi of MIM as the Pro-tem Speaker. It is unfortunate that, in the very beginning of the newly-elected Assembly, there is a blatant violation of procedures, protocols and precedents. As per the constitution, Article 188, a seniormost member in terms of number of years in the Assembly be nominated as the Pro-tem Speaker. Although there are many members who are senior to Akbaruddin Owaisi, the Government chose to appoint him as the Pro-tem Speaker, which is a clear violation of the set norms,” said Union minister and BJP state chief G Kishan Reddy.

Kishan Reddy added, “With a very thin majority, Congress is worried about its strength and running the government. To save the government Congress is trying to woo MIM which has seven MLAs and under that, Akbaruddin Owaisi has been nominated for violating rules.”

“The Congress government is so fragile that it will fall even if someone sneezes or coughs. That’s why within just three days of forming the government Congress has started showing its true colours and wooing AIMIM. To stabilise its numbers Congress sought AIMIM support which had agreed to be pro tem Speaker in its eagerness to control old city,” said Kishan Reddy.

The newly-elected MLA from Kamareddy of BJP, K Venkata Ramana Reddy said there are at least five members who are senior to Akbaruddin in the House.

A delegation of the BJP members also met Governor Tamilsai Soundarrajan seeking her to set aside the pro-tem Speaker nomination.

Meanwhile, the BRS Legislative Party, which met at Telangana Bhavan ahead of the third Assembly session, unanimously elected former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao as the leader of the BRSLP. The meeting, chaired by BRS Parliamentary Party leader K Keshava Rao, saw former Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy proposing Chandrashekar Rao’s name and former ministers T Srinivas Yadav and Kadiyam Srihari supporting it.