Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party chief and Union minister G Kishan Reddy on Saturday strongly objected to the appointment of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen's Akbaruddin Owaisi as a pro-tem Speaker of the assembly, claiming that it is an “insult to the senior MLAs”. Asserting that it is against the tradition of appointing senior MLAs to the post, Reddy said he will take this up with the governor.
“We have won eight seats and reached 14 per cent vote share in the state...There is a ritual of appointing a senior leader as pro-tem Speaker. However, the Congress has appointed Akbaruddin Owaisi to the post due to their understanding with the AIMIM. We object to this. We demand that the election of the assembly Speaker should not happen with this pro-tem Speaker. We will tell the same to the state governor,” the state BJP chief at a press conference.
Reddy's statement comes even as Owaisi took oath as pro-tem speaker of the Telangana legislative assembly at the Raj Bhawan. The pro-tem Speaker serves a temporary role, officiating the assembly session until the newly-elected members are sworn in and a Speaker is elected. Reddy interacted with the media after meeting the party's eight elected MLAs, including Raja Singh.
Raja Singh also voiced opposition to Owaisi's appointment as the pro-tem Speaker and said he and other BJP MLAs would not participate in the oath-taking event.
In a video message, Raja Singh said he would never take oath “as long as he is alive” in front of AIMIM. “Can I take oath in front of a person (Akbaruddin Owaisi) who made anti-Hindu comments in the past?” asked Raja Singh.
He also recalled that he did not take oath as an MLA when a member of AIMIM was the pro-tem Speaker in 2018. "It is very unfortunate. After the Congress formed the government and Revanth Reddy became the chief minister, Congress's real face has come to the fore. New chief minister Revanth Reddy earlier alleged a tacit understanding among BRS, AIMIM and BJP and he should now clarify as to what is the relation between his party and AIMIM,...We will not take oath in front of such a person...We will boycott...," said Raja Singh earlier in the day.
The oath was administered by governor Tamilisai Soundararajan in the presence of newly elected chief minister Revanth Reddy.
Other newly-elected leaders also took oath as members of the state assembly before pro-tem Speaker Owaisi. However, BJP leaders boycotted the ceremony, alleging violation of assembly rules.
Meanwhile, countering the BJP, Telangana Congress spokesperson Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy said that a pro-tem Speaker is a matter related to the Constitution and that some senior MLA has to be appointed to the post. “It does not show that we are with the AIMIM by making him the pro-tem Speaker. We don't have to polarise a community to survive in politics,” he said.
