Hyderabad, Dec 9:
The appointment of AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi as the Pro-tem Speaker of Telangana Legislative Assembly to administer oath to newly-elected MLAs angered the BJP.
The BJP MLA refused to take oath before him, creating controversy on the very first day of the first session of the newly-elected Assembly, which began on Saturday.
A total of 101 MLAs, including Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and all ministers and MLAs of the ruling Congress, main opposition, BRS and AIMIM took oath before Akbaruddin Owaisi, who is younger brother of AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
Remaining 18 MLAs, including BJP MLAs could not take oath. BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his son K.T. Rama Rao were among the BRS MLAs who could not attend the House on the first day.
While one of the BJP MLAs, T. Raja Singh announced Friday that he would not take oath before Akbaruddin Owaisi as, according to him, the latter had abused Hindu gods and goddesses and also threatened to kill Hindus.
Raja Singh, who was re-elected from Goshamahal constituency for a third consecutive term in the recently concluded elections, is notorious for hate speeches and was booked by police on several occasions. Last year, he was arrested under the Preventive Detention Act and sent to jail for his offensive remarks against Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
After the 2018 elections, Raja Singh had refused to take oath before AIMIM MLA Mumtaz Ahmed Khan, who was then appointed pro-tem Speaker. He was then the lone BJP MLA.
However, there were differences among BJP MLAs over the issue of boycott on Saturday. Barring Raja Singh, all others were preparing to leave for assembly.
They gathered at the BJP office in the morning. Kishan Reddy felicitated them. Protesting against the decision of the party MLAs to attend the House, Raja Singh left the party office in a huff. He didn’t accompany them during their visit to the temple at historic Charminar.
The BJP MLAs also paid tributes to Dr B.R. Ambedkar at the statue at Tank Bund.
Meanwhile, BJP national leadership intervened and directed Kishan Reddy that the MLAs should not take oath before Akbaruddin Owaisi.
Following this, Kishan Reddy announced at a news conference. He said the party MLAs will take oath after a regular Speaker is elected.
He stated that the Congress government appointed Akbaruddin Owaisi as pro-tem Speaker under a secret deal with AIMIM.
Kishan Reddy said that since Congress has a narrow majority in the Assembly and the government may collapse any time, it joined hands with AIMIM.
Kishan Reddy, who is also a union minister, claimed that Owaisi is not the senior most MLA.
The BJP also complained to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan about Owaisi’s appointment. Party MLAs went to Raj Bhavan and presented her with a memorandum.
They alleged that in the very beginning of the newly elected Assembly, there was a blatant violation of procedures, protocols and precedents. As per the Constitution, Article 188, a senior most member in terms of number of years in the Assembly be nominated as the Pro-tem Speaker.
Earlier, Akbaruddin Owaisi took oath as Pro-tem Speaker. The Governor administered the oath to him at Raj Bhavan at a ceremony.