BJP MLAs take oath after boycotting Protem Speaker Akbaruddin Owaisi

Hyderabad, Dec 14: The newly-elected BJP MLAs in Telangana Assembly on Thursday took oath before Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar after refusing to take oath before Protem Speaker Akbaruddin Owaisi.

Soon after Prasad Kumar was unanimously elected as the Speaker, the BJP MLAs attended the House and took oath.

All eight MLAs of the saffron party had boycotted the proceedings on December 9 to protest appointment of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLA Owaisi as the Protem Speaker.

The saffron party had alleged that Owaisi was appointed Protem Speaker in violation of rules as there were other members who were senior to him.

The BJP had complained to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan about his appointment and alleged in a memorandum that the Congress government in the state wilfully violated norms to pander to certain sections of the people in pursuit of appeasement politics.

It had urged the Governor to set aside the nomination of Owaisi as Protem Speaker and withhold the process of election of a new full-time Speaker for the newly-constituted assembly pending nomination of a senior most member as Speaker.

When the Assembly met for the day on Thursday, Owaisi started the proceedings.

The MLAs who could not take oath on December 9 were called to complete the formalities.

Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, Uttam Kumar Reddy, BRS MLAs Kadiam Srihari, K. T. Rama Rao, P. Kaushik Reddy, K. Prabhakar Reddy, T. Padma Rao and P. Rajeshwar Reddy took the oath.

Though the names of BJP MLAs were announced, they did not turn up.

Only after Prasad Kumar was elected Speaker and he assumed the chair, BJP MLAs attended the House and took oath.

Two BJP MLAs Ramarao Pawar and T. Raja Singh took oath in Hindi while the others took oath in Telugu.