Newly elected legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party boycotted the oath-taking ceremony in Telangana Assembly on Saturday, opposing the appointment of AIMIM Akbaruddin Owaisi as Pro-tem Speaker of the House. All eight legislators of the party skipped the event.
Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan administered the oath and appointed Akbaruddin Owaisi as pro-tem speaker of the House at an event held at Raj Bhavan on Saturday. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy was the first to take the oath, followed by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.
Telangana BJP chief G. Kishan Reddy said, “BJP is against the appointment of Akbaruddin Owaisi as Pro-tem Speaker (of Telangana Assembly). This is against the tradition of appointing senior MLAs to the post. BJP MLAs will boycott taking oath before this Pro-tem Speaker. Our MLAs will take oath after a Speaker is appointed. We will never ally with such a party (AIMIM). We will go to the Governor on this.”
In a video released on Friday, BJP MLA-elect Raja Singh said he would never take oath in front of an AIMIM member. Raja Singh, in a video release, asserted that 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 recalled that he did not take oath as an MLA when a member of AIMIM was the pro-tem Speaker in 2018. BJP legislators met Kishan Reddy on Saturday morning and they later offered prayers at the Goddess Bhagya Lakshmi temple at Charminar.
